The Supply Chain Research Centre is Europe's largest centre dedicated to supply chain research. It receives over £500,000 annually to conduct research projects funded by research councils and industry. In addition to research, the centre runs the Agile Supply Chain Research Club, a forum bringing together industrial partners and faculty to share knowledge and experiences managing supply chains. Industrial partners can also participate in larger research projects. The club improves supply chain management practice by creating a collaborative space where members share best practices and access supply chain research with leading companies.

1. The Supply Chain Research Centre is Europe’s largest centre dedicated to research into supply chain
management. We attract funding in excess of £500,000 per annum and perform a variety of research, from long-term,
research council funded projects which focus on the generation of new knowledge to dedicated, industrially funded work that
addresses specific needs. In addition to our research portfolio we run the Agile Supply Chain Research Club. The Club is
a forum which brings together industrial partners with Cranfield faculty to share knowledge and experience of managing
supply chains in practice. Industrial partners in the Club also have the opportunity to participate in larger research projects.
Objectives:
The Agile Supply Chain Research Club improves the
practice of supply chain management by creating a
collaborative forum where members can engage with one
another to share promising practices. It also offers
access to, and participation in a wide range of supply
chain research with leading companies.
How the club operates:
Research topics are agreed in advance with Club
members, examples of past topics include:
2010: Sustainable Supply Chains, Sales and Operations
Planning
2011: Measurement of supply chain performance,
Collaborative Supply Chains, Agile Supply Chain design
2012: Product Servitisation, Customer Responsive
Supply Chain Strategy
2013: Managing Supply Chain Data, Managing ‘multi-
channel’ Supply Chains
Key speakers from leading companies and academia
present at these meetings, sharing their knowledge and
experience in an open and engaging way to stimulate
debate about the issues and dilemmas involved in the
most challenging aspects of supply chain management.
Member benefits include:
 Quarterly Club meetings with guest speakers,
providing exemplar practices on supply chain themes
voted by ASCRC members
 Open debate around the issues and dilemmas related
to forward thinking supply chain practices. This is
enabled by the non-competitive, cross-sector, nature
of the member companies
 Participation in research activities (where desired by
the member company) leading to direct and distinct
benefits for the company
 Access to a dedicated website providing all past
presented material and related publications.
 Access to leading-edge research prior to publication
 Four days of faculty time to investigate supply chain
issues
 50% discount on MSc projects, where a mature
student completes a supply chain project of the
company’s choice over a 4 to 5 month period
 Discount on Executive MSc Programmes tuition fees:
10% for 1 individual, 15% for two or more individuals
 25% discount on tuition fees for all Specialist Open
Programmes, which applies to all employees within a
research club member organisation
 Access for 1 person to the Cranfield International
Alumni network
Current and past members:
Hewlett Packard, Travis Perkins, PPG, O2, Procter and
Gamble, Port of Tilbury, Tetley, TNT, Travis Perkins,
Rexam, DHL, Nestle, Pitney Bowes, Harveys
How to join
Annual fees of £7,500 entitle you to membership of the research club,
priority access to analysis and implementation support and receipt of Club publications.
More information is available from Lynne Wall, l.wall@cranfield.ac.uk , +44 (0)1234 758562.
AGILE
SUPPLY CHAIN
RESEARCH CLUB
 RESEARCH
Rev. 05/13

2. AGILE SUPPLY CHAIN RESEARCH CLUB
SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS 2014
DATE THEME
12 March
Supply Chain Risk and Resilience:
There are many types of risks faced by supply chains, for example, security, environmental and
political risks which lead to major losses. How can we create resilient supply chains and manage
risk better to sustain competitive advantage, rather than just being an insurance policy?
11
th
June
Collaborative supply chains: horizontal and vertical relationships:
Highly collaborative supply chains are resource intensive and often don’t provide the benefits
expected. What are the barriers and facilitators to creating highly collaborative supply chains and
how can the value they create (increased revenue or reduced costs) be measured and increased?
17
th
September
Managing multi-channel supply chain:
Sales and delivery channels for most business are proliferating introducing a host of challenges
around supply chain processes, infrastructure, information systems and organisation. Further, the
advent of E-commerce, M-commerce and S-Commerce creates particular challenges for multi
channel and omni channel supply chains. What are the implications in both a B2B and B2C
environment?
10
th
December
Agile Supply Chain Design:
Agile supply chains require agile capabilities to respond to highly unpredictable demand. These
may be organisational (concerned with manufacturing, distribution or information systems) or
relational where highly involved, often short term relationships, are required. What is the latest
thinking on creating agile capabilities?