Corporate E-Learning

This course has been carefully designed to help you better understand supply chain management. Before we begin with the main points of the course, however, we first need to complete some activities to help focus and maximize our learning experience. In Module One, we’re going to cover topics such as basic housekeeping, parking lot, workshop objectives and action plans and evaluation. So, let’s get started.

Imagine this: an entrepreneur has an idea for providing affordable organic linens to a national discount chain. But how will she get her product from a factory in South America to customers in the Midwest who will shop at one of the chain’s stores? What processes are involved? Who will perform what functions? What about financing and shipping? What will she need to do to ensure satisfied customers? These are the questions answered through supply chain management. So then, what exactly is supply chain management? It is the management of interconnected businesses involved in providing goods or services to consumers. Supply chain management involves the finances, logistics, and delivery of products or services and requires integrated behavior and cooperation among the chain’s firms to be successful.

Sometimes, purchasing, procurement, materials management, logistics, materials management, and supply chain management are used interchangeably. These essential activities are how organizations obtain and deliver materials. They relate not only to a company’s cost reduction strategies but also to its return on capital investment (ROCI). For an organization to operate at optimum efficiency, supply management and procurement need to be clearly defined activities. This module will cover key terms related to supply chains.

In this module, we will look more closely at the concept of inventory control and more key terms in supply chain management. What does inventory entail? What are some important aspects of meeting the customers’ demands for products and services? Lastly, how can supply chain firms effectively handle returns despite the number of organizations that may be involved?

The above quote applies just as much today in a global environment, as it did thousands of years ago. Small things do indeed lead to great things. Consider small companies that are now international corporations (i.e., KFC™, Coca Cola™). Moreover, management always begins with a single step that leads to successive steps or levels. In this module of the course, we will examine three levels of supply chain management: • Strategic level • Tactical level • Operation level

The supply chain has three levels of management. It also has five stages in which goods, services, or products cycle through the pipeline. Supply chain managers need an understanding of these stages to effectively plan and to assist with determining critical paths in the operation of a chain’s firm. The five stages are: 1. Plan 2. Source 3. Make 4. Deliver 5. Return

The flow of goods, products, and services has a definite pattern in supply chain, usually toward the end customer. A supply chain can also be a pipeline in which information and finances. The flow can be simple or complex. It can be multi-tiered or reversed. In this module, we will look at three flows of supply chain management: • Product Flow • Information Flow • Finance Flow

Inventory management is the critical stage in supply chain management because it helps to establish inventory and sales patterns, increase working capital, and turn inventory in cash. Inventory management involves various metrics and forecasting. It also involves how firms move their inventory and maintain accurate records. Data warehousing plays a large part in successfully managing inventories in a supply chain.

Supply chains are complex relationships among groups that interact to move goods, products, and services from suppliers to customers. In most instances, supply chains operate like networks rather than linear chains. Additionally, the relationships are more like partnerships in which members share risks and rewards. The types of groups involved in supply chain management include: suppliers, producers, customer’s, customer customers. In this module, we look at the role of each group.

Tracking and monitoring inventory, production, and sales is important for supply chains as with any enterprise. However, with supply chains these activities can be more complex and require a great deal coordination. In this module, we will look at ways to track and monitor supply chain activities. Some key agents for tracking and monitoring include: • Dashboard • RFID’s • Alert Generation • Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)

Supply Chains are complex networks with special requirements for successful operation. At any point within the chain, events can occur to upset the flow further downstream. The primary role of a supply chain manager is to not only manage purchase, track and monitor assets, but to understand the different problems that can occur to impede flow and prevent these. In this module, we will examine: • Inventory alerts • Supplier alerts • Bottlenecking • Being Proactive

Although this workshop is coming to a close, we hope that your journey to improve your supply chain management skills is just beginning. Please take a moment to review and update your action plan. This will be a key tool to guide your progress in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. We wish you the best of luck on the rest of your travels!