Supply Chain Management

Picture of Supply Chain Management
Now Only
$389
AUD
35% off
$599 AUD
Quick Facts
  • Delivery Method Online
  • Professional Certificate
  • 24hrs Suggested Study Time
  • 3 Months Access
  • Tutor Support
  • Study On Any Device
  • 2763 Students

Master the fundamentals of supply chain management and prepare for internationally recognised certification examinations.

Supply chain management professionals play a key role in capturing customer demands, creating forecasts, developing schedules, ordering and managing inventory, controlling production orders, and maximising customer satisfaction. 

This course will help you succeed in the supply chain management field. You will learn which actions to take when confronted by almost any situation. You'll understand how to represent top management's interests on the shop floor, and you'll know how to translate such initiatives as strategic planning, sales and operations planning, and new product introduction into achievable, operational plans.

You'll understand all the necessary elements to fulfill the requirements of a formal supply chain cycle beginning with developing long-range production, sales, and capacity plans and ending with planning, implementing, and controlling daily manufacturing schedules. You'll master the fundamentals of supply chain management, including customer demand forecasting, master production scheduling (MPS), material requirements planning (MRP), capacity planning, and production activity control (PAC).


Courses are delivered to you through expertly executed lessons, online instruction and interaction with like-minded students. Our courses are designed to deliver all of the benefits of studying in a classroom whilst giving you the flexibility to study at a time and place to suit your needs. You can access your classroom 24/7 from any device with an internet connection.

This course has a 3 month duration. You'll complete comprehensive lessons, quizzes and assignments before submitting your final exam at the end of the course to achieve your certificate. Courses must be completed within the 3 month access period.

In this lesson, we'll discuss professional certification and get acquainted with APICS, the professional society for supply change management (SCM) practitioners. You'll find out about the concept of an operating system and the use of a supply chain. You'll also learn about Material Resources Planning (MRPII) and the role that it plays in an organization.

MRPII creates a logical structure for information, activities, and material to flow. While beneficial, MRPII represents only half of what an organization needs to succeed. Today, you'll see the other half of the picture—Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP). It's a dynamic process that can make your company a world-class organization. You'll learn how to successfully use S&OP, identify key focus areas, and appreciate the benefits of following the S&OP cycle.

In this lesson, we'll examine forecasting—defined as a prediction based on scientific observation. We'll explore the history and nature of forecasting, and discuss customer demand. You'll learn how to set forecasting objectives and create a process to develop and update weekly or monthly forecasts.

Today, we'll examine the components of demand: averages, linear trend, seasonality, and cyclical, irregular, and random factors. We'll cover many qualitative forecasting techniques, including the Delphi method, panel consensus, and historical analogy. You'll learn about quantitative forecasting by working on problems involving time series (simple and weighted moving average and exponential smoothing) and associative methods (linear regression and multiple regression analysis). You'll start to get a sense of which forecasting methods to use for which situations.

In this lesson, we'll conclude our discussion of forecasting. You'll find out about macroforecasting and two forecasting techniques that really fit in the quantitative or qualitative categories: focus forecasting and pyramid forecasting. You'll discover how to develop forecasts for new products, and learn how to use techniques to effectively control your forecasts before they get too far off track.

All manufacturing operations have strategies, which are represented by a business plan and a production plan. A sound business plan identifies processing methods (technology and equipment), manufacturing facilities, human resource needs, material requirements, distribution methods, and warehouse locations. A production plan defines how products will be made available so that marketing can satisfy customer demands and the company can make a profit. Today, you'll learn all about manufacturing strategy. We'll look at the elements of the production plan as essential requirements to support the other elements in an MRPII system.

The topic of today's lesson is the master production schedule (MPS). An MPS breaks down the production plan in greater detail. To manage your MPS effectively, you'll need a master scheduler. We're going to look out how the master scheduler converts the production schedule to an MPS, applies a final assembly schedule, and uses available-to-promise (ATP) to satisfy customer orders. You'll learn how critical it is to measure and control your MPS and methods to keep it moving in the right direction.

The process called material requirements planning (MRP) is one of the great inventions of the 20th century. Today, you'll discover how MRP can help your company. You'll learn about the basics—dependent demand, bills of materials, and inventory records—and study the various reports and schedules. You'll also find out how to lot-size MRP orders and what it takes to implement MRP.

To succeed with capacity planning, you must manage the present and the future. You need to balance flexibility (being able to meet new and diverse needs in different ways) with capability (doing what you must do now). In this lesson, you'll learn about the goals and requirements to effectively manage capacity. You'll also discover how to use strategic capacity management, rough-cut capacity planning (RCCP), and capacity requirements planning (CRP) to define, plan, measure, and control output.

Starting today, (and continuing for the remaining three lessons), we'll be discussing production activity control (PAC). PAC is vital because it activates all of your plans, including the MPS, MRP, and your capacity plan. We're going to look at the PAC cycle and its requirements and benefits. You'll learn how to apply backward and forward scheduling, manage bottlenecks, and optimize set up management. Then we'll cover linear programming as a way to schedule products when you face supply and demand constraints.

Today, we'll examine another method with an acronym: production scheduling and control (PSC). PSC is the part of PAC that carries out all of your planning, going all the way back to the business plan. By the time you finish this lesson, you'll know how to develop and use a Gantt chart, understand basic scheduling principles, and know how to overcome production schedule challenges. You'll also learn how to use priority rules to sequence work orders, use shop loading, and manage work orders.

In this final lesson, you'll learn all about lead-time. We'll identify its components and discuss how you can successfully control it. Then we'll conclude the course by studying operation overlapping as a way to improve production and keep materials flowing smoothly.

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim

Tony Swaim has helped many clients, colleagues, and students reach their professional and personal goals. He has been an online instructor since 1998 and has taught at colleges and universities across the United States since 1981. His focus areas ... Read more

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Frequently Asked Questions

Once you've made the payment, we'll send you a confirmation email with a link to start your course. Feel free to get started whenever you're ready!

You'll have 3 months access to your course. In that time you are free to study at your own pace. The course duration is 24 hours.

Online learning is a flexible way to study that fits around your schedule, giving you the freedom to learn at your own pace from anywhere in the world. You'll have 3 months to complete the course and can take the multiple-choice questions and final exam whenever it suits you.

If you need help, you can contact us anytime. You can also join the discussion area where you can interact with other students. The discussion area for each lesson is open for the entire duration of the course.

Of course! We offer a 10-day money back guarantee. As long as you haven't completed the course, you can get a full refund within 10 days of enrolling.

We do not offer extensions or transfers for this self-paced course. However, you will have 3 months to complete the course, and if you need to cancel within the first 10 days of enrolment, we offer a money back guarantee.

The Learning Environment

From the moment that you enrol in the Supply Chain Management you will become an integral part of our learning community. You'll find yourself with the freedom to learn at a speed that suits you, on any device, from anywhere in the world. Achieving your career goals no longer has to mean compromising family and work commitments.

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