Executive certificate : Supply chain management

What is a supply chain

• Understand what a supply chain is ;
• Understand the difference between logistics and supply chain management ;
• Discuss the goal of a supply chain and explain the impact of supply chain decisions on the success of a firm ;
• Identify the three key supply chain decision phases and explain the significance of each one ;
• Define supply chain management ;
• Describe the cycle and push/pull views of a supply chain ;
• Understand the different classifications of a supply chain ;
• Define what a responsive supply chain is ;
• Identify careers in supply chain management.

Supply chain performance

• Understand what a competitive strategy is, what a product development strategy and a supply chain strategy are ;
• Define the main different supply chain strategies ;
• Understand strategic fit, and explain why achieving strategic fit is critical to a company’s overall success ;
• Define adapted performance measures for a supply chain ;
• Describe SCOR model for the evaluation of supply chain performance.

Demand Forecasting

• Understand the role of forecasting for both an enterprise and a supply chain ;
• Identify the components of a demand forecast ;
• Forecast demand in a supply chain given historical demand data using time-series methodologies ;
• Analyze demand forecasts to estimate forecast error.

Inventory management

• Describe what an inventory is ;
• Explain why inventory management is important ;
• Understand inventory related costs ;
• Describe the different types of inventory ;
• Describe different measures of product availability ;
• Understand the role of safety inventory in a supply chain ;
• Identify factors that influence the required level of safety inventory ;
• Utilize available managerial levers to lower safety inventory without hurting product availability.

Replenishment strategy

• Understand different replenishment strategies ;
• Choose the most adapted replenishment strategy for a given product ;
• Balance the appropriate costs to choose the optimal lot size and cycle inventory in a supply chain ;
• Understand the impact of quantity discounts on lot size and cycle inventory ;
• Devise appropriate discounting schemes for a supply chain ;
• Understand the impact of trade promotions on lot size and cycle inventory ;
• Identify managerial levers that reduce lot size and cycle inventory in a supply chain without increasing cost ;
• Understand ABC inventory control.

Master Planning and Aggregate planning

• Understand the importance of master planning as a supply chain activity ;
• Describe the information needed to produce an aggregate (master) plan and the outputs obtained ;
• Explain the basic trade-offs to consider when creating an aggregate plan ;
• Formulate and solve basic aggregate planning problems.

Distribution Network

• Determine the key factors to be considered when designing a distribution network ;
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of various distribution options ;
• Understand new trends in distribution networks ;
• Choose best fitting distribution network.

Transportation network

• Understand the role of transportation in a supply chain ;
• Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different modes of transportation ;
• Identify costs related when designing a transportation network.

Supply chain network design

• Comprehend the importance of network design in a supply chain ;
• Determine the factors influencing supply chain network design decisions ;
• Understand the proposed approach and method for making network design decisions ;
• Use optimization (mathematical programming) for facility location and capacity allocation decisions ;
• Include uncertainty in supply network design.

Pricing

• Understand the role of pricing in a supply chain ;
• Describe different pricing strategies ;
• Identify conditions under which each pricing strategy including revenue management tactics can be effective ;
• Describe trade-offs that must be considered when making pricing and revenue management decisions.

Warehouse management

• Explain why warehouse management is important ;
• Describe different warehouse typologies ;
• Understand the warehouse basic operations ;
• Define warehouse management ;
• Understand warehouse design and sizing.

Sourcing Management

• Understand the role of sourcing in a supply chain ;
• Discuss factors that affect the decision to outsource a supply chain function ;
• Describe different sourcing strategies ;
• Identify dimensions of supplier performance that affect total cost ;
• Describe different types of auctions and understand basics of negotiations ;
• Understand importance of risk sharing ;
• Describe different types of contracts ;
• Understand different supplier management techniques.

Reverse Logistics and closed loop supply chain

• Explain what reverse logistics is ;
• Describe the main actors in a reverse logistics chain ;
• Identify the main activities in a reverse logistics chain ;
• Understand a proposed method for reverse logistics design.