Global Supply Chain & Inventory Pro: Master Certification

Define supply chain management as coordinating product, information, and financial flows from raw material procurement to end customer delivery, with the goal of cost-effective, right inventory, on-time product availability.

Trace the evolution of supply chain management from assembly lines and mass production to MRP, ERP, JIT, and globalization, with Industry 4.0 technologies like blockchain, data analytics, and machine learning.

Explore distribution channels and distribution networks in a supply chain, covering direct and indirect channels, serving area, warehousing, transportation, and the roles of distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and e-commerce.

Explore the SCOR model, a cross-industry supply chain reference framework with six processes—plan, source, make, deliver, return, enable—and its standardized metrics for benchmarking and performance insight.

Learn how the SCOR model measures supply chain KPIs like perfect order fulfillment, cycle time, agility, costs, ROI, sustainability metrics, diversity, wages, and training.

Explore how customer input and sales history drive demand and supply planning, procurement, and manufacturing, and map these flows to the score model's plan, source, make, deliver, and return.

Explore how the value chain defines customer value and links five primary and four support activities. Contrast it with the supply chain, focusing on the flow of goods.

Explore determinants of demand - price, income, price of related goods (complements and substitutes), tastes, expectations, and number of buyers - while distinguishing demand from sales and future estimates.

Master demand planning by capturing data, forecasting future demand, building a consensus forecast for 12–24 months, and aligning inventory, lead times, and cross-functional collaboration.

Explore planning horizons in demand forecasting, from short-term to long-term strategic forecasts. Compare qualitative and quantitative methods, including time series, regression, and tools like executive opinion and Delphi.

Learn sales and operations planning (S&OP) to balance demand and supply through cross-functional data collection, demand and supply planning, consensus, and executive review.

Explain supply planning as the process of meeting demand by coordinating procurement, manufacturing, and distribution within capacity and material constraints, with master production scheduling and ERP or MRP driven execution.

Compare four manufacturing planning strategies—make-to-stock, assemble-to-order, make-to-order, and engineer-to-order. Learn how each handles inventory, customer specifications and configurations, and delivery lead times.

Explore the determinants of supply, including price, production costs, technology, government policy, number of sellers, and expectations, and how these factors shape market supply.

Create a master production schedule that converts sales forecast into weekly production, factoring on hand inventory, capacity, batch size, subcontracted quantities, and bill of material.

Master materials requirement planning (MRP) converts a master production schedule into a material plan including bill of materials and raw materials. It outputs purchase and manufacturing plans and exception reports.

Differentiate independent demand, the finished product, from dependent demand, the raw materials, and explain how MPS plans for direct demand while MRP uses that output.

See how demand planning feeds the master production schedule and MRP, translating orders and forecasts into weekly production and procurement plans based on BOMs and on-hand inventory.

Explore how strategic, profit, and rolling forecast drive sales and operations planning, master production scheduling, and material requirements planning across long-term, medium-term, and short-term horizons.

Learn how inventory management oversees the flow of goods from suppliers to customers, optimizing raw materials, work in process, MRO, and finished goods to reduce costs and boost profits.

Explore the nine core activities of inventory management, from planning replenishment and assortment to cycle counting and forecasting, using models like safety stock, minmax, economic order quantity, and Kanban.

Inventory acts as a major asset and working capital driver, with carrying costs around a quarter of its value; implement tight control through policies, processes, and coordination.

Optimize costs and cash flow by reducing excess inventory and stockouts while balancing supply and demand. Boost customer satisfaction, supply chain efficiency, and profitability through timely fulfillment.

Identify the five main inventory costs—ordering, carrying, shortage, spoilage, and miscellaneous—and how they drive total inventory expenses. Show how forecasting, optimized inventory levels, and effective warehouse management reduce these costs.

Discover how purchasing fits into procurement and learn the full purchasing cycle from requisitions to payment. Explore sourcing, contract management, supplier evaluation, and spend analysis to optimize procurement outcomes.

Master the procurement flow from need identification to sourcing, market research via RFI, RFP, and RFQ, contract management, and spend analysis to drive supplier value and cost savings.

Explore direct and indirect procurement, maintenance, repairs and operations, with examples like wheels vs lubricants, and learn how purchasing differs from procurement, including strategic value and total cost of ownership.

Master eight selective inventory control techniques, including ABC, XY Z, FSN, high value, medium value, low value, vital essential desirable, scarce difficult easy, golf suppliers, and seasonal sources.

Learn ABC analysis to classify inventory into A, B, and C by value, guided by the Pareto principle. Apply cycle counting and demand forecasting to optimize high-value items.

Master ABC analysis in Excel with last 12 months usage, unit cost, and cumulative value to classify inventory into A, B, and C categories and optimize stock management.

xyz analysis classifies items into x, y, and z based on demand variation, enabling better inventory optimization, demand planning, and supplier management; it complements abc analysis for richer planning.

Learn to classify inventory with XYZ analysis in Excel using 12 months of demand data, applying coefficient of variation to separate X (stable), Y (moderately unstable), and Z (unstable) items.

Learn how ABC and XYZ analyses combine to optimize inventory, identifying high-value, stable-demand A and X products for automated replenishment, and prioritizing low-value, sporadic items for lean stock.

Analyze fast moving, slow moving, and non-moving items by consumption rates to optimize inventory, manage working capital, and improve demand forecasting through targeted replenishment and promotions.

Classify inventory by unit value using h, m, and l thresholds to guide inventory optimization and demand forecasting, and manage obsolescence through promotions to prevent overstock and losses.

Learn how to apply ved analysis to classify inventory into vital, essential, and desirable, and design purchasing policies and stocking plans to prevent stockouts and production delays.

Classify materials as scarce, difficult, or easy to address procurement challenges, lead times, and supplier reliability while shaping purchasing policies and stocking requirements.

Explore the golf analysis framework, classifying suppliers as government, ordinary, local, and foreign to reveal lead times, procurement quirks, and how this informs inventory management decisions.

Explore inventory control with seasonal and off-season analysis, identifying seasonal and off-season items to optimize stock and buy at off-season lows for peak-season profits.

Learn PCA analysis for inventory control by classifying items into P, Q, and R by shelf life, prioritizing R-class items in food, beverages, and medicines.

Learn to classify inventory with HML and PQR analyses in Excel, using price thresholds and shelf-life criteria, and integrate with ABC, XYZ, FSN, and PCA insights.

Learn how inventory replenishment balances stock levels and costs by applying four methods: periodic ordering, reorder point, demand-based replenishment, and top-up, guided by time, stock levels, forecasts, and thresholds.

Learn to calculate safety stock as a buffer for demand and supply variation using the standard deviation of monthly demand, monthly lead time, and the z factor for service level.

Master inventory replenishment in Excel by calculating safety stock, reorder point, economic order quantity, and min-max planning using lead time, 12-month demand data, and service level.

Explore why inventory management KPIs matter and how metrics like average inventory, turnover ratio, days of sales, days on hand, gross margins, order fulfillment, and inventory accuracy drive data-driven decisions.

Master the average inventory KPI and how it feeds other metrics like inventory turnover, days on hand, and gross margin, using beginning and ending period values.

Master cost of goods sold (COGS) by summing direct material, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead, then subtracting ending inventory. Learn which costs are excluded from COGS and the COGS formula.

Examine the inventory turnover ratio, defined as cost of goods sold divided by average inventory, showing how many times inventory is sold in a period. Higher turnover signals better performance.

Explore days on hand, a metric for how many days to sell average inventory, using its formula and conversions to weeks or months, illustrated with a laptop example.

Learn about gross margin return on inventory investment (gmroi), a KPI that links gross margin to average inventory. Understand its calculation and how high or low gmroi informs inventory decisions.

Explore inventory accuracy through cycle counting, learn the accuracy formula with a practical example, and see how ABC classification defines tolerance levels for A, B, and C items.

Identify excess and obsolete inventory using a defined period and future and past demand. Apply proactive and reactive actions to control excess inventory and reduce obsolete inventory, improving inventory performance.

Compare on time delivery (otd) and on time in full (otp), showing how otd measures quantity delivered by the due date while otp tracks complete order lines.

Calculate days of supply by dividing on hand inventory by average daily usage or sales, as in 600 on hand and 100 daily sales, yielding six days of demand.

Master KPI calculation in Excel by computing inventory turnover ratio, days on hand, days of sales, and GMROI from raw data such as cost, price, and inventory.

Master KPI calculation in Excel to identify excess and obsolete inventory using on-hand stock, past sales, and future demand, with automatic flags and value totals.

Master the calculation of on time delivery and on time in full in excel, highlighting quantity-level versus line-level metrics with automated calculations and example totals.

Define logistics management as the end-to-end coordination of inbound and outbound transport, warehousing, inventory control, materials handling, packaging, order fulfillment, and collaboration with third-party logistics providers.

Understand how reverse logistics moves goods from customers back through the supply chain to manufacturers or retailers. Learn how it enables product reuse, servicing defective items, or disposal and recycling.

Master transportation management by optimizing shipment scheduling, route planning, freight costs, carrier selection, tracking, and parcel management across road, sea, rail, air, and pipeline with intermodal solutions in logistics infrastructure.

Compare LTL and FTL shipping, highlighting when smaller freight loads versus full truckload capacity apply, and how shipment size, weight, classification, and delivery timelines influence method choice and cost savings.

Compare road, rail, air, sea, and pipeline transport by usage, advantages, costs, and volume to select the right mode for urgency, quantity, and cost.

Master warehousing as a storage hub enabling large-scale production, quick supply, and price stabilization, while covering capacity planning, receiving, storing, inventory tracking, climate control, and outbound shipping.

Explore various warehouse types, including private, public, government, bonded, cooperative, automated, climate controlled, and distribution centers. Learn how each type serves storage needs, duty, and distribution in the supply chain.

Walmart's case study showcases vendor managed inventory, RFID, and CPFR enabling real-time data exchange with suppliers, direct manufacturer procurement, and significant lead-time reduction.