Duration 3 Days – 21 hrs.

 

Overview

The Essentials of Supply Chain Planning: Tools and Techniques Training Course provides participants with a practical understanding of how organizations plan and coordinate the flow of materials, products, information, and resources across the supply chain.

 

The course covers the essential principles and tools used in demand forecasting, sales and operations planning, inventory management, capacity planning, production planning, material requirements planning, supplier coordination, and distribution planning. Participants will learn how to balance customer demand with available supply while controlling inventory, cost, capacity, lead time, and service levels.

 

Through practical exercises, case studies, planning templates, and KPI analysis, participants will apply common supply chain planning techniques and develop an integrated supply chain plan.

 

Objectives

• Explain the role and importance of supply chain planning.
• Identify the major components and planning horizons of an integrated supply chain.
• Map the flow of products, information, and decisions across the supply chain.
• Analyze historical demand and recognize patterns affecting forecasts.
• Apply appropriate qualitative and quantitative forecasting techniques.
• Measure forecast accuracy using common indicators.
• Calculate essential inventory parameters, including safety stock, reorder points, and economic order quantity.
• Differentiate between dependent and independent demand.
• Explain the principles of capacity planning, production planning, and material requirements planning.
• Balance demand, supply, inventory, and capacity through Sales and Operations Planning.
• Apply supplier and distribution planning techniques.
• Use planning tools such as ABC analysis, demand segmentation, planning matrices, and KPI dashboards.
• Identify supply chain risks, constraints, and potential corrective actions.
• Develop a basic integrated supply chain plan based on a practical business case.

 

Target Audience 

• Supply chain and planning personnel
• Demand planners and supply planners
• Inventory and materials planners
• Procurement and purchasing personnel
• Production and operations planners
• Warehouse and logistics personnel
• Distribution and replenishment planners
• Sales and Operations Planning team members
• Customer service and order management personnel
• Finance and commercial personnel involved in planning
• Supervisors and managers responsible for supply chain performance
• Professionals transitioning into supply chain roles

 

Prerequisites 

• Basic knowledge of business or operational processes
• Basic spreadsheet skills
• Familiarity with their organization’s purchasing, inventory, production, logistics, or sales processes
• Participants are encouraged to bring sample planning data or non-confidential operational scenarios for selected exercises.

 

Course Outline

 

Day 1 — Supply Chain Planning Fundamentals and Demand Forecasting

Module 1: Introduction to Supply Chain Planning 

• Definition, scope, and objectives of supply chain management
• Supply chain planning versus supply chain execution
• End-to-end supply chain flows:
  • Products and materials
  • Information
  • Funds
  • Planning decisions
• Key supply chain functions and stakeholder responsibilities
• Strategic, tactical, and operational planning horizons
• Push, pull, and hybrid supply chain approaches
• Customer service, cost, inventory, and responsiveness trade-offs
• The bullwhip effect and its operational impact

Activity: End-to-end supply chain process-mapping exercise

 

Module 2: Integrated Supply Chain Planning 

• Components of an integrated planning framework
• Relationship among:
  • Demand planning
  • Supply planning
  • Inventory planning
  • Capacity planning
  • Production planning
  • Procurement planning
  • Distribution planning
• Master data required for effective planning
• Bills of materials, lead times, capacity, inventory records, and planning parameters
• Planning assumptions, constraints, and decision rules
• Role of Enterprise Resource Planning and Advanced Planning Systems
• Common planning challenges and sources of data error

Activity: Identify planning inputs, outputs, owners, and dependencies

 

Module 3: Demand Planning and Forecasting Essentials 

• Role of demand planning
• Independent versus dependent demand
• Demand characteristics and patterns:
  • Level demand
  • Trend
  • Seasonality
  • Cyclical demand
  • Intermittent demand
• Qualitative forecasting methods:
  • Expert judgment
  • Sales-force estimates
  • Market research
  • Delphi method
• Quantitative forecasting methods:
  • Naive forecasting
  • Moving average
  • Weighted moving average
  • Exponential smoothing
  • Trend projection
• Selecting an appropriate forecasting method
• Forecast assumptions, overrides, and collaborative review

Workshop: Prepare a basic demand forecast using historical data

 

Module 4: Forecast Accuracy and Improvement 

• Forecast versus actual demand
• Forecast error, bias, and variability
• Common accuracy measures:
  • Mean Absolute Deviation
  • Mean Absolute Percentage Error
  • Mean Squared Error
  • Tracking Signal
• Causes of inaccurate forecasts
• Demand segmentation and exception-based planning
• Improving forecast quality through collaboration and data discipline

Exercise: Calculate and interpret forecast accuracy indicators

 

 

Day 2 — Inventory, Supply, Capacity, and Materials Planning

Module 5: Inventory Planning and Control 

• Purpose and types of inventory
• Cycle stock, safety stock, pipeline stock, anticipation stock, and obsolete stock
• Inventory-related costs:
  • Ordering costs
  • Holding costs
  • Shortage costs
  • Obsolescence costs
• Inventory performance measures:
  • Inventory turnover
  • Days of inventory
  • Stockout rate
  • Fill rate
  • Service level
• ABC inventory classification
• XYZ classification based on demand variability
• ABC-XYZ segmentation
• Cycle counting and inventory record accuracy

Workshop: Conduct an ABC inventory analysis and recommend control policies

 

Module 6: Replenishment and Safety Stock Techniques 

• Continuous and periodic review systems
• Fixed-order quantity and fixed-time-period systems
• Economic Order Quantity
• Reorder point calculation
• Lead-time demand
• Safety stock concepts
• Service-level considerations
• Minimum-maximum inventory policies
• Two-bin and visual replenishment systems
• Kanban and pull-based replenishment
• Balancing inventory availability and carrying cost

Exercise: Calculate EOQ, safety stock, and reorder points

 

Module 7: Supply and Capacity Planning 

• Translating the demand plan into supply requirements
• Supply sources and available-to-promise concepts
• Capacity planning fundamentals
• Design capacity, effective capacity, and actual output
• Capacity utilization and efficiency
• Rough-cut capacity planning
• Identifying constraints and bottlenecks
• Demand-capacity balancing strategies:
  • Overtime and additional shifts
  • Subcontracting
  • Inventory build-ahead
  • Resource reallocation
  • Demand prioritization
  • Order rescheduling
• Make-or-buy considerations

Case Exercise: Develop a capacity response plan for a demand surge

 

Module 8: Production and Material Requirements Planning 

• Aggregate planning fundamentals
• Level, chase, and hybrid production strategies
• Master Production Schedule
• Material Requirements Planning concepts
• Bills of materials
• Inventory status records
• Gross and net requirements
• Scheduled receipts and planned-order releases
• Lot-sizing approaches
• Lead-time offsetting
• Introduction to Manufacturing Resource Planning
• Common causes of nervousness and instability in plans

Workshop: Prepare a simplified material requirements plan

 

 

Day 3 — S&OP, Supplier and Distribution Planning, Performance and Application

Module 9: Sales and Operations Planning 

• Purpose and benefits of S&OP
• S&OP versus Integrated Business Planning
• Inputs and outputs of the S&OP process
• Typical S&OP cycle:
  • Data gathering
  • Demand review
  • Supply review
  • Pre-S&OP reconciliation
  • Executive review
• Volume and value perspectives
• Reconciling demand, supply, inventory, capacity, and financial goals
• Scenario planning and decision-making
• Roles, responsibilities, and governance
• Common S&OP implementation challenges

Simulation: Conduct a simplified demand-and-supply reconciliation meeting

 

Module 10: Procurement and Supplier Planning 

• Translating requirements into procurement plans
• Supplier capacity, capability, lead time, and reliability
• Supplier segmentation
• Purchase planning and order timing
• Supplier performance indicators:
  • On-time delivery
  • Lead-time adherence
  • Quality acceptance rate
  • Order completeness
  • Cost performance
• Supplier collaboration and information sharing
• Managing long-lead-time and critical materials
• Multiple sourcing, alternative materials, and contingency planning

Exercise: Develop a supplier planning and performance matrix

 

Module 11: Distribution and Logistics Planning 

• Distribution network fundamentals
• Centralized versus decentralized inventory
• Distribution Requirements Planning
• Warehouse replenishment and stock allocation
• Transportation and shipment planning considerations
• Order prioritization during supply constraints
• Total landed cost
• Customer service and order fulfilment measures
• Balancing transportation cost, inventory, and service level

Case Exercise: Allocate limited inventory across multiple distribution locations

 

Module 12: Supply Chain Performance, Risk, and Improvement 

• Key supply chain planning KPIs:
  • Forecast accuracy
  • On-time in-full delivery
  • Perfect order rate
  • Fill rate
  • Inventory turnover
  • Days of inventory
  • Order cycle time
  • Capacity utilization
  • Supplier on-time delivery
  • Plan adherence
• KPI dashboards and exception reporting
• Identifying bottlenecks, waste, and planning gaps
• Supply chain risk categories
• Risk assessment using probability-impact analysis
• Business continuity, buffers, and contingency planning
• Continuous improvement using the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle
• Introduction to scenario and sensitivity analysis

 

Module 13: Integrated Supply Chain Planning Workshop 

Participants will apply the tools introduced during the course to a business scenario covering:

• Historical demand analysis
• Demand forecasting
• Forecast accuracy measurement
• Inventory classification
• Safety stock and reorder-point decisions
• Capacity and supply-gap assessment
• Materials and procurement requirements
• Supplier and distribution considerations
• Demand-supply reconciliation
• KPI selection
• Risk identification and mitigation planning

 

Final Output: A basic integrated supply chain plan with recommended actions.