Coursera

Inventory Management (Coursera)

Offered by University of California, Irvine,

Inventory is a strategic asset for organizations. The effective management of inventory can minimize a company’s spending while dramatically increasing its profit. In this course, we will explore how to use data science to manage inventory in uncertain environments, how to set inventory levels based on customer service requirements, and how to calculate inventory for products that have short sales cycles.

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Course 2 of 3 in the Leverage Data Science for a More Agile Supply Chain Specialization.

What You Will Learn

Manage inventory in an uncertain environment.
Analyze historical data to determine inventory levels in steady and uncertain demand situations using Excel.
Quantify the inventory needs for single-period items using the newsvendor model.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Steady-State Demand: No Demand Variability
Welcome to Module 1, Steady-State Demand: No Demand Variability. In this module, we will begin by discussing demand behavior, specifically steady-state demand. Next, we will explore lead time and gather lead time information from multiple stakeholders. The module will close with a demonstration of how to calculate a reorder point within Excel.

WEEK 2
Inventory Management with Demand Variability
Welcome to Module 2. After discussing steady-state demand in Module 1, we will explore the more common situation of demand variability. Specifically, we will focus on sources of variability, strategies for countering variability, and lead time calculations to maintain a safety stock.

WEEK 3
Inventory as a Strategic Tool to Meet Customer Service Level
Welcome to Module 3. In this module, we will discuss customer service level, its relationship to inventory, and how to calculate safety stock to maintain a desired customer service level.

WEEK 4
Newsvendor Model (One-Period Decision Model)
Welcome to Module 4. In this module, we will cover the newsvendor model, examples of single-period products, and calculating the order quantity to mitigate product underages or overages.

Go to Class

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