Benny Mantin appointed Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Prof. Benny Mantin has been appointed Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LCL), founded in December 2015 to establish Luxembourg as a world-class research and teaching hub in the field. His mandate as LCL Director commenced on 1 January 2017.

The LCL was established in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), based in Cambridge, USA, and the Luxembourg government to further teaching, research and knowledge transfer in logistics, one of Luxembourg's economic priority sectors. Its mission is to train supply chain experts, conduct leading-edge research in the field and be a valuable partner for the business community.

Through the partnership with MIT, the LCL forms part of the MIT's Global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Network, which also features centres in Boston (USA), Bogotá (Colombia), Ningbo (China), Shah Alam (Malaysia) and Zaragoza (Spain).

Prof. Mantin started working at the LCL in September 2016 under an expert contract. Prior to joining the LCL, he was an associate professor at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). Prof. Mantin previously held the Jean-Jacques Laffont Chair on the Digital Economy at the Toulouse School of Economics and the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (France), as well as visiting positions at Kyoto University (Japan), Kühne Logistics University (Hamburg, Germany) and the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management (Vallendar, Germany). He graduated with a PhD in Management Science from the University of British Columbia (Canada) in 2008.

Prof. Mantin commented on his appointment: “I am thrilled to join the LCL and have this unique opportunity of establishing and shaping a new academic group that will strive for excellence in both research and education as well as partnerships with industry. The cooperation with MIT supports us in designing educational programmes and academic platforms that will ultimately position us as a leading institution in the field of logistics and supply chain management. The team at the LCL has already been making a superb progress in building the foundations of the centre and its first Master programme. Together we will catapult the LCL into the next phase as we grow by hiring additional faculty and staff, admit students to our programmes, and formalise partnerships with industry and policy makers.”

University of Luxembourg President Prof. Rainer Klump added: “We are very proud to have Prof. Mantin on board. The recruitment of a director for the LCL was an important step in pushing this project forward. I look forward to collaborating with Prof. Mantin and am confident that he will lead the LCL to become a major player and driver for excellence in Luxembourg's logistics sector.”

Prof. Mantin will lead the growing activities of the LCL, which is located within the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance. Its Dean, Prof. Stefan Braum, concluded: “Prof. Mantin and the whole LCL team can count on the full support of the Faculty. Establishing logistics and supply chain management as a field of research at the University will further help us fulfil our mission to be a valuable partner for the Luxembourg business community and financial centre.”

Prof. Yossi Sheffi, Director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and the MIT Global SCALE Network, commented: “We welcome Prof. Mantin to the SCALE Network community not only as the leader of one of our newest centres, but also as a collaborative partner who brings fresh ideas and perspectives to our global education and research programmes.”

The Luxembourg Master in Logistics and Supply Chain Management is scheduled to start with the 2017-2018 academic year. In October 2016, Associate Prof. Steffen Klosterhalfen was recruited to help develop the curriculum and launch the programme. He joined Outreach and Implementation Officer Tjalda von Lilienfeld-Toal, Marketing Officer Valérie Marx and Study Programme Administrator Mélanie Winter.

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