| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2025-03-31 | - |
Program Overview
The Smart Factory and Digital Supply Chain is a 3-day executive education program from Vlerick Business School. It provides leaders with the knowledge and skills for implementing smart factories and digital supply chains, covering topics such as operational excellence, AI, and digital transformation leadership. The program employs a mix of lectures, exercises, and case studies, taught by renowned professors. Participants can expect to enhance their understanding of digitalization trends, develop transition plans, and measure the impact of digital initiatives.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
The Smart Factory and Digital Supply Chain is a 3-day executive education program offered by Vlerick Business School. It aims to equip participants with the skills, experience, and confidence to implement a smart factory and digital supply chain, developing a transition plan. The program acknowledges that companies are beyond exploring digitalization and are now focused on implementation and execution. The program focuses on the latest in smart supply chains and digital leadership, providing knowledge and insight to benchmark digital strategy and manage transformation. The immediate return on investment includes understanding digitalization trends and their impact, learning how digitization shapes future business models, discovering how to use and deploy technologies correctly, identifying necessary digital initiatives and measuring their impact, and developing skills to implement digital initiatives and adopt digital leadership. The program is designed for operations and supply chain managers, plant and production managers, managers in manufacturing organizations, supply chain consultants, and logistic service providers who want to digitalize their operations.
Outline:
The 3-day program consists of three modules:
- Module 1: The smart supply chain: This module covers smart operations, the impact of digital technologies on supply chains, how digital technologies transform organizations and impact competition, and assessing a company's digital maturity.
- Module 2: The Smart Factory: From operational excellence to industrial manufacturing platforms: This module explores smart manufacturing, digital twin technology, the industrial metaverse, new connectivity standards, the role of AI and machine learning in operational decision-making, how digitization supports localization and operational resilience, and platform-based business models in manufacturing.
Teaching:
The program utilizes a combination of lectures, interactive exercises, and real-world case studies. The program features renowned professors, testimonials from the business world, and interactive exercises. The hybrid format makes the digital reality tangible.
Other:
The program has had participants from various companies. The program's upcoming edition is scheduled for March 31st - April 2nd, 2025, in Ghent, and costs €4095 (excluding 21% VAT). The program is taught in English.
Vlerick Business School is a prestigious Belgian institution with campuses in Brussels, Ghent, and Leuven. Established in 1999 through the merger of MBA programs from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Ghent University, it has evolved into a leading European business school.
The school holds the distinguished "triple crown" accreditation, being recognized by EQUIS, AMBA, and AACSB. This places Vlerick among a select group of business schools worldwide that meet the highest standards in management education.
Vlerick offers a range of programs, including MBA, Masters, and executive education courses, emphasizing a practical, hands-on approach in close collaboration with various companies.
The institution is particularly renowned for its expertise in digital transformation, entrepreneurship and innovation, healthcare, energy, and financial services.
In terms of rankings, Vlerick is recognized as a top-tier school by both the Financial Times and QS. Notably, it is ranked number one in the Benelux region for executive education and 19th in Europe.
The school's international outlook is further enhanced by partnerships that allow students to pursue double Masters degrees, spending one year in Belgium and another abroad, at institutions such as the Darla Moore School of Business in the U.S. and EDHEC Business School in France.
With a network of over 25,000 alumni in 99 countries, Vlerick Business School continues to make a significant impact on the global business community.
