With the holiday season right around the corner, Amazon one-day deliveries have been on the up and up. The service is cheap, efficient and most importantly, arrives within a day. But how does an Amazon order start with the click of a button and end up in your hands just 24 hours later? The inner workings responsible for this advanced system is “supply chain management.”
Syona Wadhwa, sophomore supply chain management major, has big plans for Hofstra University’s Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM). After being secretary of the club last year, she noticed that the club was not as active as she had hoped. This year, Wadhwa assumed the responsibility and honor of leading the club as President alongside Vice President Michael Pflanzer, a sophomore also majoring in supply chain management.
“I describe it as the flow or process of getting something from its raw materials all the way to someone’s front doorstep,” Wadhwa said.
As described by Wadhwa, the term “supply chain management” can be defined as the step-by-step flow of how a product comes to be. You need to find where to source the materials from and plan for how much of these materials will be needed. The product then gets manufactured and delivered to its destination, eventually ending up in the shopping cart of the customer.
Wadhwa expressed that her interest in the supply chain originated around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, when toilet paper was incredibly difficult to find. She wondered why these products, that were essential to everyday life, were suddenly out of stock. She began researching and found that everything could be located back to the supply chain.
Wadhwa recalled a highly impactful experience that she had during the summer before her senior year of high school. She joined the Rutgers Supply Chain Education Partnership Program, where she met with guest speakers and had hands-on practice in the field. Participating in an activity where she learned about all the components that go into creating a Nike sneaker, she found alternatives to cheaper materials that could be used. This program was beneficial for Wadhwa to get a glimpse into the field, solidifying her decision to major in supply chain management.
With experience running clubs in high school, Wadhwa was able to envision exactly what she wanted the club’s focus to be each semester. This semester, the club’s focus is on Generation Z and the supply chain, while the Spring 2026 semester will be focused on artificial intelligence. Although supply chain management is currently a niche major at Hofstra, it is becoming increasingly well known. ASCM tabled for an involvement fair earlier this semester called “Zarb On The Quad,” geared towards business majors. The fair was run by Hofstra’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business.
“A lot of people didn’t know what supply chain management was,” Wadhwa said. “I think the lack of interest in the club came from a lack of knowledge of what ‘supply chain’ is.”
The involvement fair was extremely important for ASCM to get their name out there, educating students on the relevancy of supply chain. Despite the club’s alignment with business-oriented interests, Wadhwa emphasizes that it is open to all majors.
“Every industry needs some kind of inventory, or some kind of flow of how they get their goods or services to the customer,” Wadhwa said.
She noted that during the involvement fair, there was a student who came up to their table that was majoring in health science. She conversed with the student about how the pandemic greatly affected the pharmaceutical industry, and the supply chain’s role in helping that ordeal. Overall, Wadhwa wants her peers to understand that supply chain resides within every industry and has an impact on every field.
ASCM is in collaboration with the ASCM New York City/Long Island (NYC/LI) forum, where Wadhwa serves as a part of their social media marketing team. This connection is going to help foster many helpful networking opportunities for students that join the club at Hofstra. Mark Temkin, the president of the ASCM NYC/LI forum, has appeared as a guest speaker for the club this semester. He spoke about the many mentorship programs and networking events that the ASCM NYC/LI forum has for students. Additionally, students recently toured the Radienz Living company to learn about how artificial intelligence impacts supply chains.
“Having a good professional network once you graduate, just having those connections that you can go to within the industry – that’s what I want my members to take out of my club,” Pflanzer said.
Wadhwa and Pflanzer plan on setting up networking events in the future with supply chain clubs at other nearby universities. This will allow students to meet other peers with similar career goals and can lead to future collaboration opportunities. ASCM also plans to host at least one more guest speaker before the semester ends. Wadhwa is excited to partner up with other Zarb clubs on campus as well.
Wadhwa said the biggest challenge they have faced in trying to grow the club is getting their name out there. Many clubs have trouble building and sustaining member engagement. Pflanzer responds to this, ensuring that members will want to stay active in the club because there will consistently be new guest speaker events to attend. As the club grows, they will continue to develop a bigger network and overall have more diversity in what they can do.
Wadhwa hopes that through joining this club, students will feel accurately prepared for the field and will be able to identify disruptions within the supply chain. She aspires to be an approachable person and a resource for anyone who has questions about supply chain management. Wadhwa and Pflanzer highlight the value of the ASCM NYC/LI forum as a key tool for guiding anyone who wants to get more involved within the supply chain field.