Supply Chain Management: A Decision-Making Framework (edX)

The course will take a helicopter view for decision-making. The helicopter view is built upon:

• Key questions to decide on: manufacturing organization, late differentiation, location, distribution networks, …
• Objectives relevant to your business: cost, speed, flexibility, reliability, …

We will work through questions such as:

• Should you locate a process in a given country? This decision has an obvious impact on your HR costs, but it also affects your working capital and your ability to react to the market needs.
• Should you centralize your distribution? This decision leads to economies of scale and a better product availability, but it also impacts your carbon emission.

By the end of this course, you will have built a framework that allows you to make better decisions.

What you'll learn
At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

• recognize key questions in the design and management of a supply chain;
• identify the possible options and solutions to key questions, along with their strengths and weaknesses;
• translate the company strategy into a clear decision making framework;
• make strategic decisions based upon this framework.

Syllabus

1. Get the big picture

• First touch with the supply chain
• Rough sketch of what “Supply chain objectives” means
• Rough overview of strategic “Supply chain decision”

1. Objectives - The business Strategy and the Business target

• Market segment - attributes
• Financial objectives
• Company values and strategic aims
• Decision in a multi-criteria environment

1. Process Structure

• Process organization. Artisan – Line – Functional
• Simulation and examples
• Strength and Weaknesses
• Supply chain view and managerial focus
• MTS/MTO and late differentiation

1. Distribution

• Centralized/decentralized
• Distribution flows
• Warehousing and X-docking
• Supply chain view and managerial focus

1. Inventory

• Inventory types
• Inventory cost
• Inventory management and supply chain view