Syracuse University’s Whitman School teams up with Syracuse Housing Authority

Syracuse University’s Whitman School teams up with Syracuse Housing AuthorityOctober 13, 2005Amy Schmitzaemehrin@syr.edu

Before low-income residents of the City of Syracuse can move into safe and affordable housing, those apartments have to be brought up to standard. The Supply Chain Department in Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management has teamed with the Syracuse Housing Authority to create more effective means of storing and accessing housing equipment and supplies in order to successfully maintain those apartments.

The Supply Chain Department is assisting the Syracuse Housing Authority and architect James Oliver of RSA Architects, Inc., with developing a new warehouse to store its supplies, like faucets and smoke detectors. The department will also design a more efficient internal layout of the warehouse so supplies can be more easily accessed.

“The Syracuse Housing Authority maintains housing supplies for many of the low-income residents of the city,” says Patrick Penfield, director of the Whitman School’s Supply Chain Executive Management Programs. “The work they do and the apartments they provide and maintain are vital to many families in our community. The Supply Chain Department is thrilled to be able to help out.”

The new warehouse will be located on the corner of Burt and McBride streets. The warehouse and Syracuse Housing Authority serve approximately 2,500 elderly and family households in the city of Syracuse. Frederick Murphy, director of the Syracuse Housing Authority, says, “We look forward to implementing the designs submitted by the Supply Chain program, and we are hoping the new facility will help us provide better service at a better price.”

Whitman’s Supply Chain program was recently ranked as the 10th best program in the nation in a recent survey of academics and practitioners in Supply Chain Management Review. The Syracuse Housing Authority owns and manages 12 federally funded housing developments, in addition to managing two buildings owned by the city.