• Learn how to reduce the total cost of ownership, inventory levels, logistics, and space requirements.
• Discover how to reduce lead time.
• Gain an understanding of how to increase fill rates.
• Improve supplier performance and accountability.
• Improve customer satisfaction and customer relationships.
• Reduce overall organizational and operational waste.

Participants will gain a solid understanding of the basics of manufacturing and service operations and the role of manufacturing & service operations within an organization’s overall supply chain. The course prepares students to be effective in entry-level and supervisory roles in manufacturing & service operations. The course may also be beneficial to executives new to manufacturing & service operations field as the course provides a solid overview of the basics of the field.

• Outline at a high level what demand planning is and why it is important to company success
• Identify the key roles and skills required in demand planning
• Discuss the key responsibilities and metrics used in planning demand
• Explain the key links between demand management and order management
• Discuss the role of Ecommerce technologies in enabling effective demand management
• Discuss the definitions of forecasting and inventory control
• Recognize the difference between independent and dependent demand
• Define the various types of uncertainty related to demand planning in terms of demand, supply, and lead times
• Explain the causes and impacts of variability or uncertainty
• Discuss the basic types of forecasting techniques, such as reorder points, Economic Order Quantity, lead times, and technology uses
• List the key aspects of demand sensing and communication
• Discuss the key aspects of gaining demand consensus within and organization
• Identify the key metrics used in demand management
• Explain the key aspects of managing and prioritizing demand
• Describe Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR), how it works, and its benefits
• Discuss pull systems versus push systems
• Explain the concept of demand shaping

• Define procurement and its purpose
• Describe the key steps carried out in managing the procurement process
• Describe the commodity strategy development process and the key steps in this process
• Understand the key supplier evaluation practices
• Appreciate the need for identifying and evaluating global suppliers
• Appreciate the important role that power, tactics, and concessions play in negotiations
• Gain a basic understanding of procurement contracting and good practices in contracting
• Describe the key forms of documentation used in procurement
• Recognize the characteristics of effective supplier scorecard systems
• Discuss the key roles or positions in procurement organizations
• Describe the key roles and metrics within procurement
• Gain a basic understanding of commercial law, particularly agency law and contract law
• Understand the difference between law and ethics
• Understand corporate social responsibility

By the end of the course, the learner will be able to...

• Discuss the main reasons for carrying inventory
• Describe the main approaches to managing inventory
• Explain the key roles and responsibilities for managing inventory at distribution centers (DCs)
• Discuss the way inventory management functions with other processes in a company
• Describe inventory replenishment and its relationship to customer service levels
• Discuss the main ways to categorize and to manage inventory
• Describe the tools and techniques used for inventory control
• Discuss key concepts of inventory storage and deployment
• Explain methods used to measure inventory accuracy and stock keeping
• Understand how inventory management works with other functional groups in a company
• Describe the link between inventory management and forecasting
• Discuss uncertainty in the inventory process and how to address it
• Understand how better visibility of inventory and demand can reduce total inventory
• Discuss key measures of inventory performance
• Explain the costs related to inventory

• Understand the business of transportation and logistics and the economic impact of transportation
• Describe the unique features, advantages, and disadvantages of the various modes of transport.
• Describe the cost and pricing considerations of LTL, Truckload, Rail, Air and Ocean transport
• Understand the role of private fleets, 3PL’s, freight forwarders, and brokers.
• Describe the role of technology in transportation operations.
• Understand the basics of legal considerations in transportation.
• Understand the basics of international transportation considerations.
• Describe the roles, functions, and metrics associated with transportation.
• Gain an appreciation of evolving innovations in transportation.
• Demonstrate metrics used to measure transportation service quality and efficiency

• Acquire knowledge of the overall order management cycle and process
• Understand the impact of effective customer service, especially in issue resolution
• Understand the key aspects of, and employee responsibilities in, the customer returns process
• Understand the key metrics used in customer returns functions
• Understand the key concepts and practices in customer relationship management
• Recognize how service performances are measured
• Identify key steps in the customer life cycle
• Know how to identify, appreciate, and relate to challenging customers in typical business settings through great customer service and understand why customers become challenging
• Know how to manage challenging customers
• Identify and describe various communication methods and their characteristics
• Recognize the key barriers to effective communication and how to overcome them
• Recognize regulatory concerns in customer service operations

• Define supply chain management – flows, metrics, frameworks, goals, and organizational structures
• Describe the various types of information systems and technology currently used in the supply chain
• Describe how teams work together to create successful customer relationships
• Summarize the customer satisfaction model
• Discuss the difference between internal and external customers
• Explain the difference between manufacturing and service operations
• Recognize the steps in the procurement process
• Understand that there are different types of buyer-supplier relationships
• Define the concept of strategic sourcing
• Explain why it is important to consider the total cost of ownership when making purchases
• Categorize the different types of demand patterns
• Discuss the importance of S&OP in the integrated supply chain
• List several KPIs for successful inventory management
• Articulate some of the key operations of a warehouse (e.g., receiving, storage, product placement, filling orders, and order picking processes)
• Understand how different areas of product transportation affect the overall success of companies
• Identify the challenges in establishing efficient and effective transportation processes within industries
• Determine which modes of transportation are more cost effective in given situations and why
• Demonstrate metrics used to measure transportation service quality and efficiency
• Understand the importance of supply chain resilience
• Learn potential ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) can improve supply chain resilience

• Demonstrate a fundamental understanding of the physical, technological, process and safety considerations of warehouse/distribution operations
• Explain facility configuration considerations, representative storage and handling techniques, performance metrics, customer service considerations, and the role of distribution operations in different industries
• Discuss picking and shipping processes and material handling equipment
• Describe the key operations that take place within a warehouse and how they relate to each other
• Discuss the different warehouse operating/ownership models