Product distribution is a critical component of the economy. After all, someone needs to arrange for items to fill store shelves and make sure the right goods are routed to where they’re needed. That person is often a purchasing agent, distribution manager, or a similar professional.
One way to enter this field is by earning an industrial distribution degree from the Collat School of Business. The online Bachelor of Science in Industrial Distribution offers a unique curriculum found at few other institutions in the world.
Students can choose between two concentrations:
- Engineering
- Medical equipment and supplies
Each provides graduates with valuable skill sets that are highly sought after throughout the supply chain.
Industrial distribution major curriculum
Students in both concentrations follow the same curriculum with some exceptions. All students in the ID program will take basic business, marketing, economics, accounting, and management courses, found in most Bachelor of Science programs. The courses that are unique to the ID major include:
DB 320: Industrial distribution management
This course reviews the ways distribution management has evolved over time, and what changes professionals anticipate for the future.
DB 430: Industrial Distribution Operations
Students take a greater look into concepts like profitability, inventory management, scheduling, decision support systems, and facilities and warehouse operations. With this information, future professionals will have the skills to efficiently manage operations while keeping a close eye on profitability.
DB 435: Industrial Distribution Policies and Quality Issues
This course covers industrial distribution best practices and strategies. Students will learn how to prioritize B2B customers and market segments, including how to factor in customer retention, determine influencers of customer loyalty, and use sales data to make strategic decisions.
DB 495: Industrial Distribution Directed Studies/Practicum
In part an internship course, students will get hands-on experience and have the opportunity to work alongside professionals in the field. In this setting, students see real-world problems and explore solutions.
MK 330: Professional Selling
Designed to give future professionals practice in business communications, this course allows students to create sales presentations, analyze cases, and apply the methods and theory they’ve learned in other courses to real-world examples in securing business and driving profitability.
Beyond these five courses, students will take four courses specific to either the engineering or medical equipment and supplies concentration.
Engineering concentration
This concentration blends business with engineering, giving students a unique look into the supply chain across many industries. Graduates will leave the program having studied the nuances of industry, including technical sales, operations, logistics, marketing, and purchasing. Students may go on to become sales managers, logisticians, distribution managers, or buyers and purchasing agents.
Courses specific to this concentration include:
MSE 350: Introduction to Materials
Material structures are the building blocks of manufacturing. This course is designed to provide insight into material structures and performance for the non-engineer. This information will help make educated purchase decisions.
EE 305: Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering
Knowing the basics of electrical engineering can help industrial distributing engineering professionals make strategic decisions and relay product benefits to customers.
ME 302: Overview of Mechanical Components
The concepts of thermodynamics, heat transfer, energy transformation, and fluid mechanics, among others, are critical to mechanical engineering. Understanding them is important for industrial distributors to be successful in their roles.
ME 103: Drawing, Design and Measurement for ID
Students will develop engineering and technical literacy by studying technical sketches, engineering drawings, and reviewing manufacturing processes. It’s designed to introduce the non-engineer to important engineering concepts.
Medical equipment and supplies concentration
In this concentration, students will learn how the health care industry works, medical terminology, and the intricacies of medical and health care industry purchasing systems. Students will also take courses in business, human anatomy, and distribution.
Some graduates have gone on to work for top medical manufacturers in operations, purchasing, or technical sales positions, while others have been accepted into medical school after graduating.
Courses specific to this concentration include:
HCM 330: Overview of Health Care Systems
To make well-informed health care equipment and supplies decisions, it’s critical to understand health care policy. This course fills students in on health care systems, policy, financing, and other related topics.
EC 306: Health Care Economics
This course reviews real-world health care issues and focuses on how to apply economic analysis to them, giving students a unique look into supply and demand, insurance, government policy, health labor markets, and more.
MK 471: Health Care Marketing
In health care marketing, it’s important to know how to identify and segment hospitals and other medical providers, understand the impacts of selling to the health care market, and marketing challenges that are specific to health care companies.
AHS 350: Medical Terminology for Health Professionals
The health care field seemingly has a language of its own, and it’s critical for industrial distribution professionals focusing on medical products to understand it. This course is dedicated to constructing and using medical terms to describe diagnostic and clinical procedures.
Pursue an industrial distribution degree at the Collat School of Business
Many graduates of the BS ID program go on to pursue careers in industrial distribution. Job placement for this major is 100 percent, and most graduates get multiple job offers. Both concentrations focus on unique skills that are necessary to succeed in purchasing, sales, and distribution positions.
To learn more about the industrial distribution degree at the Collat School of Business or the engineering or medical equipment and supplies concentrations, reach out to an enrollment advisor today.
Recommended Readings:
How a bachelor’s of business management can prepare you for your MBA
What you may learn in UAB’s online BS in Human Resource Management program
Sources:
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Undergraduate Catalog 2018-2019
University of Alabama at Birmingham BSID course descriptions