ATLANTA - Infor today announced it donated software licenses for Infor SCM Network Design, a supply chain planning and analysis solution used by some of the world’s most recognizable companies, to the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL). MIT-CTL, recognized as an international leader in supply chain education and research, will use Infor SCM Network Design in its research on supply chain design, including how to measure and reduce carbon emissions.

MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics is part of the Engineering Systems Division in the School of Engineering and contributes to the understanding of supply chain network planning, operations and management. The Center works with the private sector, industry groups and government on supply chain modeling, planning and operations, technology, and policy analysis. The Center offers a Masters of Engineering in Logistics, and has more than fifty affiliated faculty and staff coordinating hundreds of research projects. Earlier this year it launched the SCALE (Supply Chain & Logistics Excellence) Network, an international alliance of research centers that spans Europe, Latin America and the United States.

“Organizations seek more efficient and sustainable supply chains to promote their environmental stewardship and to offset rising fuel costs. Our research goals include understanding how to measure carbon as a variable in the supply chain as well as identifying practices that improve overall efficiency in supply chain design,” said Dr. Edgar Blanco, research director, Carbon-efficient Supply Chains Project, MI-CTL. “Technology will play a pivotal role in helping us achieve sustainable supply chains, and we expect Infor SCM Network Design to contribute to our research and curriculum in this area.”

Infor SCM Network Design is utilized by leading retailers, manufacturers, distributors and third-party logistics providers to model their supply chains to maximize efficiencies in costs, customer service and carbon impact. As supply chains become larger and more complex, organizations must continually evaluate their supply chains based on their strategic goals, as well as tune their designs for dynamic events, such as rapidly fluctuating fuel costs. Infor SCM Network Design allows companies to holistically factor sustainability criteria, such as carbon emissions related to nodes, including plants, warehouses and stores, as well as transport modes like rail, air, trucking, and ocean freight into their supply chain decisions.

Infor SCM Network Design is used as a research and learning tool by more than a dozen other universities around the world. For more information on Infor SCM Network Design, visit http://snipr.com/networkdesign . To learn more about the role of network design in implementing a sustainable supply chain, download the report from Aberdeen Group, “Supply Chain Network Design: Architecting a Green Future”, at http://snipr.com/top5report .

Posted: 10|6|08 at 1:00 pm. Filed under: Press Release.