Designing Efficient Supply Chain Systems

This unit develops learners’ ability to design and operate efficient, resilient supply chain systems by aligning resources, controlling costs, and configuring processes across sourcing, production, warehousing, and returns. Students will map and model processes with SCOR and SIPOC, apply inventory and asset-management strategies, leverage warehouse systems and automation, and use metrics and analytics to improve performance, quality, sustainability, and cybersecurity.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze customer value, cost drivers, and trade-offs to recommend optimal production environments, sourcing regions, and resource alignment that meet service and cost objectives
• Apply SCOR and SIPOC frameworks to map end-to-end supply chain processes and design system-level solutions for sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, and returns
• Demonstrate inventory, warehousing, returns handling, and asset-management techniques, including the use of warehouse management systems, electronic load boards, and automation technologies, to reduce total cost and improve flow
• Evaluate supply chain performance using SCOR metrics and analytics tools to develop plans that increase resilience, assure quality and cybersecurity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions