 Hello, global supply chainers and welcome to our first SC2X live event. Here today we are pleased to have Dr. Eva Ponce with us. So Dr. Eva Ponce is the Executive Director of the MITx Micro-Mastering Supply Chain Management. She is also a research associate at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. Her current research focus is the design of urban distribution models with a special adaptation on omni-channel distributional subjects. She also leads research initiatives on river logistics and closed-loop supply chains. Welcome Eva. Thank you so much. Okay, excellent. So the agenda for this live event is going to be the following. I'm going to start giving some numbers, general information about the current course, and then we'll have a presentation in charge of Eva and she's going to discuss about the Micro-Master Program and also some of the details about the course. Then we'll have a short session about the questions that you might have about the general information of the program and also about the course. Then we'll move to our breakout session and we'll ask you a couple of questions that you will discuss with you first. After a break, we will go back and start a discussion based on your response. Okay, so let's get started and let me give you some details about the course. So, so far we have more than 3,000 students enrolled in SC2X. So, the median age of our learners is 29 years and we have a 24% of a presence of women in this course. So, more than 160 countries are represented in this SC2X run. The top three are the U.S. with 19%, India with 13% and Mexico with 4%. So, as you might know, the course is structured in 12 weeks. So, this is the fourth time that we are running SC2X. So, for this, the two weeks are divided as following. We have eight weeks of content. We have two of weeks, week five and week 11 and we will have two weeks for meter and final. But remember that these are time exams. So, we will have three life events in total. So, this is the first one, the welcome life event. Then we will have another one in week five and we will have the last one, the wrap up a life event in week 11. And for that, the last life event, we're introducing what we call problems from practice. So, in this case, we will try to solve our approach, a problem that is going to be shared with you. And we'll try to come up with different potential solutions to this problem. So, if you have an interesting problem that you encounter in practice at New York, please let us know and share it with us to the email sc2xhealth.mit.edu. Okay. So, Eva, could you give us more information about, in general, about the program also about SC2X, what the students are expecting to to learn during the next 11 weeks? Sure. Thank you so much, Sergio, for inviting me. It's my pleasure to be here today and welcome global supply trainers. Welcome to SC2X and also welcome to the MicroMaster program in supply chain management. You are now part of a huge community of MicroMaster learners. We have more than 200,000 learners from all across the world as part of the MicroMaster program. So, we have a student from more than 196 countries. These are the countries represented in our program. I think we are missing not too much countries, to be honest. From those 200,000 learners, 13,000 are verified students. Today, I'm going to explain you a little bit more about what is a verified student, the benefits to be a verified student, and the reasons why we encourage you to be a verified student. So far, we have issued more than 21,000 certificates since we started with our first massive open online courses in 2014, and we already have our first MicroMaster credential core. We are very proud of this first MicroMaster credential core, and we issued 622 certificates so far. This happened last June 2017. So, the big picture. So, the MicroMaster. The MicroMaster includes five massive open online courses. As you might know now, anyone from anywhere can join these open courses. There are no requirements in terms of academic requirements, in terms of age. Anyone can join to these courses. You just need a computer and internet connectivity to join these courses. Most of you are now halfway, halfway of this program. I guess that most of you already completed supply chain analytics and supply chain fundamentals. Now you are about to start already started supply chain design. And after supply chain design, more is waiting for you. We are going to have supply chain dynamics and supply chain technology and systems. And after completing these five courses, you need to pass what we call a comprehensive final proctor exam in order to complete the MicroMaster credential. And once you pass these five courses plus the comprehensive final exam, you will earn the MicroMaster credential. To do this, you need to be, as I mentioned before, a verified student. So, in terms of contents, and as I just mentioned, you are now halfway. You are already completed supply chain analytics, supply chain fundamentals, and now we are going to offer you, during these 13 weeks, supply chain design. So the first part of the MicroMaster, the first three courses focus more on the conceptual models. However, the two last courses, supply chain dynamics and supply chain system and technology deal more with real life, with complexity, and with these exogenous factors that affect the supply chains. So in SE0X, the main goal here is to teach you how to formulate both deterministic and stochastic analytical models. In SE1X, it's mainly about tradeoffs in demand forecasting, inventory management, and transportation planning. And in supply chain design, we are going to focus in the design of the three main flows in a supply chain. These are materials flow, information flow, and finance flow. So this is the main focus of SE2X, and I'm going to go a little bit deep in the contents that we are going to review during this course. After completing these three courses, you will move more to the real life. We are going to introduce complexity and exogenous forces that impact supply chains. And in SE4X, we are going to deal with big data. We are going to deal with supply chains at big scale, databases, the system, how to design a database management, how to do queries, and also how to implement supply chain systems, such as enterprise resource planning system, such as transportation or warehouse management systems. So this is the scope and the main goal of SE4X. And at the end, as I mentioned, a final exam. Why? Because at the end, we need to give you a certificate, a credential, and we need to test your knowledge in supply chain management before giving you this certificate. That's why we always combine this learning experience with kind of assessment experience that we need in order to give you a certificate after the program. So let's move now to SE2X, supply chain design, these course that we just enrolled. Let's have a look and a deeper dive into the course. So regarding the roadmap, we are going to cover the design of the physical flows, mainly the material flows. We are going to move them to the design of information flows. And we are going to cover manufacturing, procurement, and distribution. Third, we are going to focus on finance and cover the design of the financial flows. And at the end of the course, we are going to give you a quick term, how to design the organization. So these are the main topics we are going to cover in SE2X. For the first part, how should materials flow through a supply chain? First, we are going to start with the quantitative model. We are going to explain you how to model a transportation, a management problem, how to design a facility location problem, and in general, how to design network problems. Then you are going to learn how to solve this problem. And finally, one of the most important part here is how to make the interpretation of this solution. And finally, we are going to see if this solution makes sense. We need to see, for instance, how many distribution centers we propose to locating a network design. If this makes sense for this specific organization. So this is mainly what we are going to cover here. Then we are going to move to the information flow. In this part of the course, we are going to start with manufacturing. We are going to talk about the field of material, production planning, and finally, we are going to present distribution resource planning system, MRP and ERP system. We are going to talk also about distribution, and distribution strategies, the different distribution channels in the network supply chain. We are also going to teach you a little bit about sales and operations planning. And Professor Sheffi is going to introduce you about procurement. Professor Sheffi is going to talk about sourcing strategies, procurement methods, and also optimization-based procurement solutions. So this is the part that we are going to cover in this course related to suppliers and procurement. As I mentioned before, the focus is the flows, the three main flows, the information, the materials, and the finance. So at the end of the course, in the last week, starting in week 8, we are going to talk about finance. The main goal here is to understand how we can translate supply chain concepts and supply chain actions at the end into the language of the chief finance officer. We are going to talk about balance sheets. We are going to talk about cash flows. And at the end, we are going to review the main finance concept that we are using in supply chains. In week 10, the last lesson of week 10, we are going to talk about the designing of the organization. How should the supply chain be organized? So first, we are going to talk about the organizational structure and different types of organizational structure centralized versus decentralized structures. And at the end, one topic that we consider is very relevant, is how to measure the performance of the supply chain. So we really want to understand how we can, at the end, quantify the impact of the different decisions we make in the different areas of the company into the performance of the supply chain, how to establish these metrics, how to define, and at the end, how to understand the different decisions are having an impact in the performance of the supply chain. So this is mainly in terms of contents. In terms of logistics, in terms of the course, we already have more than 10,000 learners. The enrollment is open until next week. So if you have friends that are interested in supply chain design, why not let them know about the course. They still have time to enroll in SC2S. So far, we have about 350 verified students. However, the line to become a verified student is going to be open until October the 4th. And I'm going to explain a little bit more how to become a verified student and also the benefits associated to be a verified student. In terms of the countries, Sergio already mentioned that around 20% of our students are currently from USA. We have 13% from India, 4% from Mexico, Brazil, Canada. We also have a good bunch of Spaniards around German people, French people, European, Australia. We also have a student from Australia. So yeah, students from almost all over the world. So how to become a verified student? As you might know now, we have two types of students in our SCX courses. One type of student are audit students. So these students have access for free to most of the material in our courses, have access to the videos, to the practice polling, and to the quick questions. We also have the verified student. So we encourage you to become a verified student if you are interested in earning a certificate with us. If you have any interest in earning a certificate, then that's why we encourage you to become a verified student. To become a verified student, it's a process, it's a two-step process. First, you need to click on the upgrade green button. This is the part that is related to the payment because to purchase a certificate for this course is $150. I need to mention here that all of the costs for all of our SCX courses is going to change by January 2018. So by January 2018, all of our courses are going to cost $200, including the CFX. The CFX also is going to have a cost of $200. However, from now till the end of this year, the SCX courses because is $150, but the CFX was much more expensive was $600. So let's say that the total cost of the MicroMaster is going to be less expensive, starting in January 2018. However, each course is going to cost $200. So just to let you know that this is something that is going to change at the beginning of 2018. So the first step, the first step is click on the green button, upgrade the status to be verified, and then you need to select the payment method PayPal or credit or Visa or credit card. So this is the first step. Once you complete this step, I really encourage you to do the second step right away. The second step is about ID verification, and it's a step that you need also to complete in order to be a verified student. There are two things, payment plus ID verification. ID verification, you need to provide a webcam picture plus ID card that includes your full name, your last name plus a picture and should be an official ID card. It can be a passport, a driver license, any ID identification, an official ID identification. There is a video that can help you to go through this process. If you have any issue during the verification process, you should contact directly with Edex support. The email account is info at edx.org or you can also press the button that you have on the left side or in the platform that is the help support button and contact directly with Edex. Okay, so I have one question about the ID verification. Sure. In this case, the student that enrolled in a new SEX course, do they have to ID verify again? Okay, so once you ID verify yourself, this is going to be up to date for one year. So the ID verification will be for one year. So if you recently ID verify yourself, you will be already ID verified. However, take into consideration that you need to be ID verified during the course and very, very important at the end of the course. Once we are going to close the course and issue the certificates, it's mandatory that you meet the few requirements, be verified, pass the course with more than 60% of dates and be ID verified. So you need to be ID verified at the very end of the course in order to that we can send you the certificate. Yeah. Thank you. Excellent. So which are the benefits to be a verified student? First, to tour a certificate in supply chain design. In this course, you need to pass the course and you need also to be a verified student. Second, if you want to be part of the MicroMaster Credential and earn the MicroMaster Credential, it's mandatory to be a verified student in the five courses, plus the CFX, the final exam. In addition to that, we provide some extra services for verified students. In addition to the, as I mentioned before, the videos, the practice program and the quick questions are for anyone, doesn't matter if you are audit, doesn't matter if you are verified. This is access to anyone who are enrolled in the course. However, the life events, except for this first life event, is something, is an extra service that we only offer for verified students. And also, we have a section in the platform that is called MicroMaster Supplemental Material. So this section is only offered for verified students. Yep. Yeah, the life events schedule so far is the second one will happen in week five. This is the week of October 11. And we are going to discuss here the only channel distribution strategies. We will give you an article, a recent article. We want you to prepare some questions and discuss in the breakout sessions during the event. And the last event is the problems from practice. So here we really encourage you to send us a real example, a real problem that you have, a problem that is related with the contents that we are reviewing during this course. We are, we will be very happy. We are going, I guess we are going to receive some proposals. We will review that and we will try to discuss with you during this life event, the winner proposal. The winner practice problem. Okay, with us, life events. This is one of the life events. After this presentation and answer the general questions that you may have for this, we will move to the breakout session in order to discuss one of the, of the relevant topics today in supply chain. So we are going to have our first, your first opportunity in this course to join the breakout session, to, to see your peers, to be seen by your peers and discuss in a kind of real environment the, the, the, the, the, the topic that we are going to propose in, in a few minutes to you. Another benefit is most of our learners are doing this micro master credential because they really want to, to, to, to have this career development, individual professional career development at the end apply for a job in supply chain management. This is something that we know that most of our learners are, are, are using this credential in order to do that. And we have also some students, some learners that are doing this micro master credential because this is also a way to have access to a MIT master degree in supply chain management. So after completing the five courses plus the final exam on the micro master credential, you can apply to an MIT master degree. This is a program that we call the blended program. It's a five month residential program. That means that on average, our students spend 18 months in completing the micro master. Once they complete the micro master, they apply to the, to the blended program. If they get as needed, they are as needed in this program, then they need to spend just one full semester at MIT in order to this master degree at MIT. And in addition to MIT, there are other universities across the world that are also offering a master's degree, degree programs that use the micro master as a, as a path to earn some credit before joining the, the program. So it's also a way to work a master degree. So let me just add that the, the first court of HCX students or the blended program are coming the next January, 2018. So we have already 40 students that we're already admitted to this, to this program. That's going to be our first court. Yeah, that's right. Some of you ask questions about is it a competitive program? Is it very competitive? The answer is yes. We receive around 200 applications and only 40, 43 exactly were admitted in the program. So yes, it's very competitive. However, the, the, the, yeah, the, the level of the applications that we have received is really, really out of the stand. So, yeah, it's, it's going to be competitive, but yeah, some of you are going to, to, to have this opportunity. So it's something also to, to consider. That's all from my side about the general presentation, the micro master program, SC2X in particular. So I will be happy to answer any general questions that you, you have related to this part. After that, we will move to the breakout session. Okay, seems to be that we don't have a question so far. So why don't we introduce the the breakout session? Sure. And we can maybe we have some questions we can answer at the end of the, of the, of the day. Let's do that. Definitely. So for the breakout session today, this is the topic that we, we, we pick for you. So we, we, I want to share with you some, some figures, some statistics in the United States, online sales are growing 15% a year against just 1.5% for overall retail sales. So last year, online sales accounted for 7.3% of total retail sales. So the question is that e-commerce is growing. One of the, the reasons behind, there are many reasons, but I believe that one of the main reasons is the, the, the introduction of the, of the smartphones after Apple announced the first, the first smartphone in, in 2007, definitely the, the customer behavior has changed. And we can see now ourselves, I see myself, we can see many of the customers that are buying, that are looking for a product, searching for a product, competing products and buying products from almost anywhere. Because with these mobile devices, at the end, you, you, you have access to online retailers, you have access to online products, compare different products that you can do from your, from your best, from your house, from, from the car, from where, wherever. And definitely you have the opportunity also to buy from anywhere. And at the end, this is something that is, is having an impact in supply chain. So what we won't do is to think about the impact of the growth of e-commerce in the, in the supply chains, mainly in four specific areas that are, at the end, the four areas that we are covering in C2X. So we want you to think about how do you think the growth of e-commerce are impacting, network design are having an impact in procurement, in distribution strategies, and also in the supply chain finance. So this is what we want you to discuss. So from now, please go to the breakout session, discuss with your peers about the impact of e-commerce and how this is changing the paradigm of the supply change in these four main areas. Let's, let's do this in 15 minutes. Okay. After this 15 minutes, Sergio and I will be both very happy to discuss with you your thoughts about this topic, yeah, and answer your questions. Excellent, thank you Eva. So we'll be back in 15 minutes.