Supply Chain Management outlines a product's or service's entire production flow, beginning with raw materials and ending with delivery to the consumer. With strong operational skills and a strategic understanding of industry trends, you can be set for a long-haul career in this ever-growing field. Online courses can give you an extra edge over others when it comes to entering the sector as a newcomer.
How Supply Chain Management benefits businesses
Supply Chain Management helps a business gain competitive advantage by helping it manufacture and deliver products to the end customer. Factoring in more efficient and effective customer service, it ensures improved customer satisfaction and fetches handsome profits. When done effectively, this specific business area reduces production and purchases expenses, lowering the cost of doing business. Strategic partnerships with vendors and other retailers can also broaden the scope of business.
Here are 10 best online Supply Chain Management courses:
The Business of Logistics in Supply Chain Management — by Udemy
This 90-minute course is designed to provide a fundamental understanding of logistics. If you’re a beginner, you would get a fair idea of the operational side of things by enrolling in it. You would also learn here the decision-making process in the industry and know different components of logistics like air cargo management, ocean cargo management, shipment scheduling, containerisation, cost estimation, logistics planning, export-import procedures and inventory management. Additionally, the course describes with real-life examples how to schedule a shipment and calculate its cost.
Supply Chain Principles — by Coursera
This comprehensive 15-hour beginner-level course covers a varied range of topics. These include a general overview of supply chains, graphics that promote the Integrated SC model, various types of industry-specific SCs, career opportunities, and emerging and upcoming trends. By opting for this course, you will also get a view of the emerging and futuristic trends in Supply Chain Management.
Supply Chain Foundations — by LinkedIn Learning
This 90-minutes course taught by Eddie Davila from Arizona State University outlines how to identify supply chain components and understand the key drivers of successful Supply Chain Management. It’ll also help you understand the basic concepts of inventory management, supplier selection, product distribution and supply chain integration. Moreover, the course will give a glimpse into the scene behind the supply chain industry and instruct you on the role of ethics and sustainability.
Supply Chain Fundamentals — by edX
This 13-week course is for those who are more mathematically inclined and want to delve into the analytic aspects of supply chains. This is the first module of the MITx MicroMasters Credential in Supply Chain Management. It’ll teach you how to incorporate and manage uncertainty and risk analysis within this domain. Forecasting and inventory replenishment are two important topics taught in the course, which also outlines the best way to determine the optional transportation strategy.
Operations and Supply Chain Management — by Udemy
This course describes in detail how to sequence the parts of a supply chain. It’ll help you understand the most important factors that drive such sequencing, determine the best strategies for different types of organisations and combine various strategies to multiply value. As part of doing the course, you’ll get access to video lessons, written documents, quizzes, exercisers and a small project.
Implementing Supply Chain Management— by LinkedIn Learning
This course focuses on the role of returning products, how to calculate total costs, the importance of flexibility and innovation, choosing the right technology and how to collaborate externally. It gives an overview of the key challenges faced by supply chain managers and the new trends that are forcing the supply chain to evolve. With its five-step process, you will learn to implement Supply Chain Management.
Blockchain in Supply Chain Management— by Udemy
This beginner-level course will walk you through the fundamentals of Blockchain and supply chains, including what the technology is and how it works, why it is a good fit for supply chains and how Blockchain platforms actually operate. The course illustrates applications of this technology with the help of real business cases and gives you access to an online Blockchain demo and cryptographic hash generator.
Supply Chain Management Specialization — by Coursera
This course will teach you all aspects of Supply Chain management, including forecasting, logistics, lean six sigma, risk management, warehouse management, inventory and demand planning. You might need six months to complete this beginner-level specialisation course. In the final module, you will have the opportunity to work on a real-world business case to apply what you have learnt in the course.
Post Graduate Program in Digital Supply Chain Management — by Simplilearn
This postgraduate programme concentrates on the critical aspects of constructing a digitally enabled supply chain. Here you will learn how to use technology to improve operational efficiency and decision-making across the supply chain. Upon completion of this course, you’ll receive a Purdue-Simplilearn certificate and become entitled to membership in the Purdue University Alumni Association.
Simple & Easy - Basics of Supply Chain Management (BSCM) — by Udemy
In this two-hour course, you will learn everything you need to know about logistics and the supply chain function. Other than knowing the importance of warehouse management, this course will teach you all about facilities, processes and operations. Here you will also learn how to design, refine, plan, and execute various processes. Inventory management is a big part of the course as it will illustrate with examples how to maintain, measure, and control inventory stores and costs.