Coordinating flow of goods from suppliers to customers.
SCM coordinates suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses and customers: sourcing, transport, warehousing, forecasting, distribution. Metrics: lead time, fill rate, cost, inventory turns. Risk management (disruptions), sustainability, digital tracking (RFID, blockchain), 3PL partnerships.
A smartphone's supply chain spans dozens of countries.
Supply chains connect suppliers, factories and customers, so their design affects cost, speed and resilience to disruption.
Coordinating flow of goods from suppliers to customers.
Supply chains connect suppliers, factories and customers, so their design affects cost, speed and resilience to disruption.
The time from placing an order to receiving the goods, which strongly affects how much stock must be held.
Multiple sources, visibility of stock and orders, and flexibility to change suppliers or routes when disruption occurs.
Typical applications include choosing a second supplier for a critical chip to reduce risk, tracking shipments of raw materials across three countries and planning distribution centres to serve customers within two days.
Study "Inventory management" first (topic 39 of 102 in Manufacturing, Robotics & Systems). It covers the groundwork this topic builds on.
Make or buy. Network design. Incoterms.
A smartphone's supply chain spans dozens of countries.
The next topic is "Maintenance engineering", which builds directly on this one.
It is classed as Intermediate in Manufacturing, Robotics & Systems (topic 40 of 102). It is an intermediate topic. Work through the beginner topics in Manufacturing, Robotics & Systems first.
Want to practise? Open the interactive course for quick checks, quizzes, simulations and progress tracking.