This course begins with a brief history of the first multinational company in the world, that rose
with a great fleet of ships, and how Alexander the Great utilized supply chain in his conquests.
Subsequently, it will tackle the most significant terminologies in this sector and will cover as well
many Japanese terms: Poka-yoke, muda, mura, muri, kaizen, jidoka and so on. Terminologies such
as JIT (Just-In-Time) and JIC (Just-In -Case) will be further particularized in terms of advantages
and disadvantages. This course will throw light on the relation between freight, supply chain and
sales, especially when dealing with topics as postponement and Challenger sales model. It will
discuss the various types of inventories and emphasizes that inventory is part of average assets
that can significantly affect return on assets. Horizontal and vertical integration and collaboration,
RFID and 3D printing technologies and more are all covered to ensure the comprehension of the
essentials of supply chain.
Learning Outcomes:
• Learn how supply chain management evolved
• Understand the processes of supply chain, upstream and downstream, and reverse
logistics
• Identify the different kinds of inventory alike buffer inventory and the different costs alike
holding costs.
• Differentiate between vertical and horizontal integration and collaboration
• Explore the power of coordinated supply chain
• Understand the concepts of LARG (Lean, Agile, Resilient and Green) and SCOR (Supply
Chain Operations Reference)
• Minimize waste through lean manufacturing
• Explore the importance and impacts of technology
• Apply what is learned through case studies
Concise Outline:
1. History of supply chain
2. What is supply chain and reverse logistics?
3. Significant terminologies in supply chain
3.1 Insourcing, co-sourcing, near sourcing, backsourcing
3.2 Horizontal and vertical integration and collaboration
3.3 Just-In-Time and Just-In-Case
3.4 Postponement
3.5 Kaizen
3.6 Coopetition…
4. Types of inventories and costs
4.1 Spot stocking, buffer inventory…
4.2 Holding, ordering and stock-out costs
4.3 Average assets and inventories
5. Lean manufacturing
5.1 DOWNTIME Muda
5.2 5S (Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shitsuke)
6. The impact of technology
7. Case studies in supply chain
7.1 Amazon
7.2 Boeing…
