Supply Chain Fundamentals

Overview

This Supply Chain Fundamentals Certificate, which is part of Supply Chain Management MicroMasters Program and is offered by EdX in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MITx, is the first of three in the Supply Chain Management XSeries that is specifically designed to teach the critical skills needed to be successful in this exciting field.

This first course, provides the foundational skills for supply chain management and logistics. You will learn how to develop and apply analytic tools, approaches, and techniques used in the design and operation of logistics systems and integrated supply chains. 

The material is taught from a managerial perspective, with an emphasis on where and how specific tools can be used to improve the overall performance and reduce the total cost of a supply chain. We place a strong emphasis on the development and use of fundamental mathematical models to illustrate the underlying concepts involved in both intra- and inter-company logistics operations.

The main topic areas we will focus on are:

• Demand Forecasting, Planning, and Management

• Inventory Planning, Management, and Control

• Transportation Planning, Management, and Execution

While our main objective is to develop and use models to help us analyze these situations, we will make heavy use of examples from industry to provide illustrations of the concepts in practice. This is neither a purely theoretical nor a case study course, but rather an applied analytical course that addresses real problems found in practice.