Supply Chain Fundamentals: Understanding the Basics

Name: Supply Chain Fundamentals: Understanding the Basics
Rating: 4.5 (37421 reviews)

Learn the skills to be a Supply Chain professional by aligning goals, improving efficiencies and increasing returns

Created byJohn Mandic

Last updated 2/2026

English

What you'll learn

Gain an understanding of Demand and the types of demand.
Learn to spot the different patterns of demand.
Learn to forecast demand using various forecasting techniques, which is the easiest method, which method will give you the best results.
Understand forecast error and how to deal with it.
Gain an understanding of Manufacturing.
Learn the different manufacturing strategies and what environment is suitable for your product.
Learn about the Product Life Cycle and how it influences the manufacturing strategy.
Learn about the various manufacturing processes and layouts in relation to the product.
Gain an understanding of Production Planning.
Learn the strategies for developing a Production Plan.
Learn Resource Requirements Planning (RRP) to check the capacity needed for the Production Plan.
Gain an understanding of the Master Production Schedule and its relationship to the Production Plan.
Create a Master Production Schedule, understand Projected Available Balance (PAB).
Learn Rough Cut Capacity Planning (RCCP) to check the capacity needed for the Master Production Schedule (MPS).
Learn the planning tool Available-to-Promise (ATP) and its relationship to making commitments to customers.
Gain an understanding of Material Requirements Planning.
Learn about a Bill-of-Material and its importance to Material Requirements Planning.
Learn about Manufacturing Lead-Time.
Understand how MRP logic works and learn the use of lead-time Offsetting and Exploding.
Learn how MRP software works - understand Planning Orders, Released Orders, MRP Action Messages and MRP Exception Messages.
Learn Capacity Requirements Planning (CRP) to check the capacity needed for the Material Requirements Plan (MRP).
Learn to calculate Available Capacity, Available Time, Utilization and Efficiency.
Learn to calculate Rated Capacity.
Gain an understanding of Production Activity Control.
Summary of Manufacturing Planning and Control.
Gain an understanding of Inventory.
Learn about Customer Service and Safety Stock.
Learn about a Stock-Out.
Learn about Inventoy Carrying Costs and Ordering Costs and their relationship.
Understand the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ).
Learn how to manage Inventory.
Learn ABC Analysis and Pareto's Law (the 80/20 rule).
Gain an understanding of Meeting Customer Expectations.
Gain an understanding of Supply Chain Sustainability.

Course content

14 sections • 81 lectures • 3h 12m total length

The Instructor Profile0:59
Introduction to the instructor.
Course Overview & Download Course Slides3:01
The main topics that will be covered in the course.

What is a Supply Chain?1:02
The main goal of a Supply Chain is revealed.
What does a Supply Chain look like?2:10
The students first look at a Supply Chain.
What is Demand?1:16
Know the different types of Demand.
Understanding Demand1:12
Understanding the behavior of demand becomes a step in being able to predict it.
Demand Patterns2:26
Know the different patterns of demand.

Forecasting Techniques1:08
Listing forecasting techniques available.
Exercise with instructor - Forecasting using Simple Moving Average1:12
Exercise using a Quantitative forecasting demand technique.
Exercise with instructor - Forecasting using Weighted Moving Average3:10
Exercise using a 2nd Quantitative forecasting demand technique.
Exercise with instructor - Forecasting using Exponential Smoothing3:27
Exercise using a 3rd Quantitative forecasting demand technique.
Naive Forecasting Technique1:27
Using a 4th Quantitative forecasting demand technique.
Qualitative Forecasting Techniques4:42
Listing Qualitative forecasting techniques available.
Exercise - 3 Month Moving Average2:08
Student practice exercise.
Exercise - 4 Month Moving Average1:27
Student practice exercise.

Understanding Forecast Error1:24
Understand the difference (or error) between the forecast and the actual demand.
Measuring Forecast Error0:50
Review of different forecast error measuring techniques.
Exercise with instructor - Cumulative Sum of Error1:27
Demonstration of the 1st forecast error measuring technique.
Exercise with instructor - Mean Square Root1:15
Demonstration of the 2nd forecast error measuring technique.
Exercise with instructor - Mean Absolute Deviation1:26
Demonstration of the 3rd forecast error measuring technique.
Exercise with instructor - Mean Absolute Percent Error1:28
Demonstration of the 4th forecast error measuring technique.
Understanding Forecast Error - Part 25:37
The goal is to minimize the difference (or error) between the forecast and the actual demand.
Exercise - Measuring Forecast Error1:26
Student practice exercise.
Testing Your Knowledge

Introduction to Manufacturing1:44
Understand the goal of manufacturing.
Choosing a Manufacturing Environment2:02
Know the different manufacturing environments.
Product Life Cycle3:38
Know the different phases that make-up the life of a product.
Choosing your Manufacturing Layout4:56
Know the different manufacturing layouts.
Meeting Customer Expectations2:16
Understanding the customer is key.
Exercise - Vocabulary - Match the Word and Phrase1:24
Student practice exercise.
Testing Your Knowledge

Manufacturing, Planning and Control (MPC) Hierarchy4:11
Understanding the elements of Priority Planning, Capacity Planning and Execution.
What is Production Planning?2:56
Understand the goal of Production Planning.
Strategies for Developing a Production Plan2:36
Know the different types of Production Plans.
Exercise with instructor - Calculating Expected Ending Inventory2:17
Demonstration exercise on how to calculate ending inventory per period.
Exercise with instructor - Developing a Level Production Plan1:38
Demonstration exercise on how to develop a Production Plan.
Resource Requirements Planning (RRP)3:32
Know to check the capacity of the Production Plan.
Exercise - RRP1:30
Student practice exercise.
Exercise - RRP Part 22:32
Student practice exercise.
Testing Your Knowledge

What is a Master Production Schedule (MPS)?1:47
What are the inputs to create the Master Production Schedule.
Exercise with instructor - Creating an MPS plus Projected Available Balance(PAB)3:58
Demonstration exercise on creating a Master Production Schedule.
Rough Cut Capacity Planning (RCCP)2:11
Know to check the capacity of the Master Production Schedule.
Available-to-Promise (ATP)0:39
A planning tool to make commitments.
Exercise with instructor - Calculating ATP3:14
Demonstration exercise how Available-to-Promise works.
Exercise - Creating an MPS2:34
Student practice exercise.
Testing Your Knowledge

What is Material Requirements Planning (MRP)?1:47
Understand the goal of Material Requirements Planning.
What is a Work Center?1:38
Understanding what is a Work Center.
Product Structure File or Bill of Material (BOM)2:19
Understand what is a Bill-of-Material and what information it provides.
Bill of Material - Product Tree Format1:39
Another format for a Bill-of-Material.
Elements of Manufacturing Lead Time2:36
Understanding what makes up Lead Time.
What is a Part Number?2:59
How items in manufacturing are identified.
Inputs to MRP2:14
Inputs that MRP needs to function properly.
Exercise with Instructor - Bill of Material2:32
Demonstration exercise how to create a bill of material.

MRP Offsetting & Exploding1:06
Major features of Material Requirements Planning.
Exercise with Instructor - MRP Offsetting & Exploding5:52
Demonstration exercise how Material Requirements Planning works.
Exercise with Instructor - Time Phasing2:22
Demonstration exercise how Material Requirements Planning schedules orders.
Exercise - Time Phasing1:58
Student practice exercise.
MRP - Functions & Use of Software3:41
Understand the functions of Material Requirements Planning.
Understanding Time Fences & Zones3:31
Understanding schedules and impacts of customer changes.

Overview of Capacity Requirements Planning (CRP)1:02
Know to check the capacity of the Material Requirements Plan.
Capacity Requirements Planning (CRP) in detail1:06
Understanding Capacity Requirements Planning.
Determining Available Capacity: Available Time, Utilization, Efficiency5:04
Understanding how to calculate capacity.
Exercise - Rated Capacity1:41
Student practice exercise.
Testing Your Knowledge

Requirements

A computer with an internet connection.
The willingness to learn.

Description

This video course is your starting point to learn the field of Manufacturing and Supply Chain. An ingredient for an effective and efficient supply chain is gaining the knowledge and skills to take you and your organization to the next level. With this course you can strengthen your overall performance and optimize your organization's return on investment.

Whether you are a student wanting to learn a new field, already a Supply Chain professional needing to refresh your skills or any business professional seeking to supplement your body of knowledge, this introductory video training course is exactly what you are looking for. Unlike other courses that teach you the high level textbook theory, I will start with the basics and teach you through examples and exercises, principles which you can apply and start using immediately.

If your goal is certification, this course covers Basics of Supply Chain Management and can assist your exam preparation for ASCM CPIM Part 1.

Achieving excellence in managing a supply chain is essential for businesses to be successful. The challenge with globalization is that time and distance are added to supply chains which translates to more cost, complexity and risk. This as well becomes an opportunity. Successfully navigating the complexities and risks provides a competitive advantage and sets you and your organization well above the rest for continued growth and success.

Your journey towards becoming a Supply Chain Expert starts here. It's never too late to begin learning and with this course learning has never been so easy. I look forward to seeing you in the classroom.

Who this course is for:

Anyone wanting to learn about Supply Chain.
Anyone looking for a career change in the Supply Chain field.
Anyone already in Supply Chain and looking for a quick refresher.
Any business professional looking to supplement their knowledge.
Anyone seeking APICS certification.

Supply Chain Fundamentals: Understanding the Basics

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction2 lectures • 4min

Supply and Demand5 lectures • 8min

Forecasting Demand8 lectures • 19min

Forecast Error8 lectures • 15min

Manufacturing6 lectures • 16min

Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP)8 lectures • 21min

Master Scheduling6 lectures • 14min

Introduction to Material Requirements Planning (MRP) & Implementation8 lectures • 18min

MRP Execution6 lectures • 19min

Capacity Planning4 lectures • 9min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: