The Supply Chain Management Research Group was established in 2009 by Professor Ioannis Marinakis, who at the time held the position of Lecturer at the School of Production Engineering and Management of the Technical University of Crete. He is currently a Full Professor at the same School and the Director of the Decision Support Systems Laboratory. Since its inception, the group has been an integral part of this Laboratory.

The main objective of the group is the study, development, and implementation of algorithms for solving problems related to supply chain management. Within this context, a wide range of methodologies and algorithmic approaches have been developed — primarily metaheuristic, evolutionary, and nature-inspired algorithms — which have been successfully applied to various problems in the field and published in peer-reviewed international scientific journals with high impact.

Over the years, the group has supported a significant number of researchers. Specifically, nine PhD dissertations have been completed under the supervision of Professor Ioannis Marinakis and Dr. Magdalene Marinaki, along with more than 100 postgraduate and diploma theses.