Contact Dr Heather Skipworth

Background

Prior to her academic career Heather graduated in Mechanical Engineering and worked in the packaging industry for a number of years fulfilling manufacturing roles responsible for productivity, quality and design improvements. During this period she also completed a Marketing Diploma, part time, to gain an appreciation of approaches to demand creation to complement her knowledge and experience on demand fulfilment and operations management. Following the completion of an MSc in Engineering and Management of Manufacturing systems at Cranfield University she joined BICC, a large cable manufacturer, as an internal manufacturing consultant. Here she took a leading role in performance improvement projects and first developed an interest in form postponement as a strategy for improving supply chain performance. She subsequently won an EPSRC Industrial Case Award, from BICC, to fund her Doctorate at Cranfield School of Management. 


Current activities

Heather joined Cranfield School of Management faculty in 2004 following the completion of her Doctorate at Cranfield University addressing the application of the form postponement logistics and manufacturing strategy. As an Associate Professor she is also Director of the Agile Supply Chain Research Club, which provides a collaborative forum where member companies can share promising supply chain practices and participate in Cranfield University research. She works on a variety of research projects in the Centre for Logistics, Procurement and Supply Chain Management, and has published in a number of leading international journals.  Her particular areas of research interest include: agile and responsive supply chains; segmented supply chain strategy; supply chain risk and resilience; and supply chain relationships.

Heather teaches on the MSc in Logistics and Supply Chain Management leading modules on Supply Chain Strategy and Sales and Operations Planning (SOP).  She also delivers a supply chain module to the MBA programme.  Further, she is the lead author on a key logistics text influencing academics and practitioners entitled "Logistics Management and Strategy" (edition 6, 2019), which is ranked as number 5 in the top ten supply chain books of all time on www.supplychainopz.com.


Clients

Current clients include: 

  • DHL 
  • Ecolab
  • St-Gobain
  • PPG
  • Ball
  • Pitney Bowes
  • VW Logistics
  • Port of Tilbury
  • Specsavers
  • Nestle 
  • Travis Perkins
Past clients include:

  • Proctor & Gamble
  • O2
  • Bausch & Lomb
  • CEVA Logistics
  • TNT Fashion
  • Environment Agency
  • MOD
  • BAE Systems
  • Siemens Magnet Technology
  • Applied Materials
  • Kongsberg Automotive

Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers

Books

  • Moradlou H, Reefke H & Skipworth H. (2020) Manufacturing out, distribution in. In: Carmaggedon? Brexit and beyond for UK Auto (Bite-sized Brexit Books), Independently Published.
  • Harrison A, Skipworth H, van Hoek R & Aitken J (2019) Logistics Management and Strategy: competing through the supply chain. Pearson, ed. 6.
  • Harrison A, van Hoek R & Skipworth H (2015) Logistics Management and Strategy: Competing Through the Supply Chain. Pearson, ed. 5th Edition.
  • Harrison A, van Hoek R & Skipworth H (2014) Logistics management and strategy: competing through the supply chain. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
  • Bernon M, Baker P, Mena C, Palmer A, Smart A, Skipworth H & Templar S (2012) Towards more sustainable supply chain management. In: Cranfield on Corporate Sustainability, Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing, p. 149-166.