Roby Thomas
Roby Thomas, Ph.D.
Professor, Supply Chain; Program Director, M.S. in Supply Chain Management; Director, Supply Chain Think Tank
Ph.D. in Operations Management and Information Systems, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
B.S. in Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi
Roby Thomas has more than 27 years of teaching and research experience in the areas of supply chain management, production and operations management, operations research and information systems. His specialization is in the optimization of business systems, supply chain management, and business process reengineering. His research has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Production Research and Computers and Industrial Engineering.
Prior to joining the faculty at Elmhurst College, Dr. Thomas held a faculty position at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and managed a consulting group specializing in business process reengineering, supply chain system design and customer relationship management based on planning and data mining. Dr. Thomas has also trained senior and middle-level college administrators in strategy, structure, and systems development and alignment, business process design, and project management.
My primary motivation in seeking a teaching and research position at an academic institution is my commitment to educating the next generation of business professionals in the art and science of business analytics.
My classes focus on understanding business processes, and the predictive and prescriptive analytical and mathematical frameworks that are integral to improving the processes. As businesses increasingly leverage technology and analytical and quantitative methods in decision making, employers have higher expectations of business analytics skills in their employees, irrespective of their academic backgrounds. I do not believe that you have to be a formally trained math wizard to meet such expectations. I often say that my mission is to teach mathematical methods to poets!
- SCM 510 Information Technology Tools
- SCM 513 Forecasting in the Supply Chain
- SCM 531 Manufacture Decisions
- SCM 540 Inventory Strategies
- SCM 570 Supply Chain Seminar
- SCM 575 Final Project