Duration 3 Days – 21 hrs.
Overview
This course provides participants with a practical understanding of the core principles, processes, and tools used in effective supply chain planning. It covers demand forecasting, supply and capacity planning, inventory management, production planning, procurement coordination, distribution planning, and performance measurement.
Participants will learn how different planning functions work together to balance customer demand, inventory, operational capacity, service levels, and cost. Practical exercises and case discussions will help participants apply planning concepts to common supply chain challenges.
Objectives
- Explain the role of planning in an end-to-end supply chain.
- Understand the relationships among demand, supply, inventory, production, procurement, and distribution planning.
- Apply basic demand-forecasting methods and interpret forecast results.
- Develop practical demand and supply plans.
- Identify capacity constraints, supply shortages, and inventory risks.
- Apply appropriate inventory-planning and replenishment techniques.
- Understand the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process.
- Use key performance indicators to evaluate planning effectiveness.
- Respond to demand variability and supply disruptions.
- Prepare a basic integrated supply chain plan.
Target Audience
- Supply chain planners and coordinators
- Demand and supply planners
- Inventory and materials planners
- Procurement and purchasing personnel
- Production and operations planners
- Warehouse and distribution personnel
- Logistics professionals
- Sales and operations personnel
- Finance and business analysts supporting supply chain activities
- Supervisors and managers involved in planning decisions
- Professionals transitioning into supply chain roles
Prerequisites
- A basic understanding of business operations
- Familiarity with procurement, inventory, logistics, production, or sales processes
- Basic spreadsheet skills
- Access to a spreadsheet application for exercises
Course Outline
Day 1: Supply Chain Planning and Demand Management
Module 1: Fundamentals of Supply Chain Planning
- Definition and purpose of supply chain planning
- End-to-end supply chain structure
- Strategic, tactical, and operational planning
- Planning horizons and time fences
- Push, pull, and hybrid supply chain systems
- Relationships among suppliers, operations, logistics, sales, and customers
Module 2: Planning Data and Product Structure
- Essential data used in supply chain planning
- Products, locations, customers, suppliers, and lead times
- Bills of materials and product structures
- Data accuracy and master-data management
- Common planning-data issues
- Introduction to enterprise planning systems
Module 3: Demand Planning and Forecasting
- Sources and patterns of demand
- Historical, market, and customer information
- Qualitative and quantitative forecasting methods
- Moving average, weighted average, and exponential smoothing
- Seasonality, trends, promotions, and abnormal demand
- Forecast assumptions and collaborative forecasting
Module 4: Forecast Accuracy and Demand Review
- Forecast versus actual demand
- Forecast error, bias, MAD, MAPE, and tracking signals
- Selecting an appropriate forecast method
- Managing forecast exceptions
- Developing a consensus demand plan
- Practical demand-forecasting exercise
Day 2: Inventory, Supply, and Capacity Planning
Module 5: Inventory Planning and Control
- Functions and types of inventory
- Cycle stock, safety stock, pipeline stock, and buffer stock
- Service-level and inventory-cost trade-offs
- Safety stock and reorder-point concepts
- Economic order quantity
- ABC inventory classification
- Slow-moving, excess, and obsolete inventory
Module 6: Supply and Materials Planning
- Translating demand into supply requirements
- Bill of materials and dependent demand
- Materials requirements planning
- Gross and net requirements
- Planned orders and order-release timing
- Supplier lead times, minimum order quantities, and constraints
- Make-versus-buy considerations
Module 7: Production and Capacity Planning
- Aggregate and detailed production planning
- Capacity requirements and resource availability
- Bottlenecks and production constraints
- Rough-cut capacity planning
- Level, chase, and hybrid production strategies
- Managing backlogs and production priorities
Module 8: Balancing Demand and Supply
- Identifying demand-supply gaps
- Shortage and surplus analysis
- Prioritization and allocation decisions
- Evaluating alternative planning scenarios
- Expediting, rescheduling, substitution, and outsourcing
- Demand-supply balancing exercise
Day 3: Integrated Planning, Risk, and Performance
Module 9: Distribution and Replenishment Planning
- Distribution-network planning
- Warehouse and location requirements
- Replenishment policies and frequency
- Distribution requirements planning
- Transportation-capacity considerations
- Inventory positioning across the network
Module 10: Sales and Operations Planning
- Purpose and benefits of S&OP
- S&OP roles and responsibilities
- Demand, supply, and financial reviews
- Pre-S&OP and executive S&OP meetings
- Resolving cross-functional planning conflicts
- Introduction to Integrated Business Planning
Module 11: Supply Chain Risk and Resilience
- Sources of demand and supply uncertainty
- Supplier, logistics, capacity, and inventory risks
- Scenario and contingency planning
- Buffering and diversification strategies
- Business continuity considerations
- Responding to disruptions and unexpected changes
Module 12: Planning Performance and Improvement
- Key supply chain planning indicators
- Forecast accuracy and bias
- Inventory turnover and days of inventory
- Service level, fill rate, and stockout rate
- Supplier performance and schedule adherence
- Capacity utilization and plan attainment
- Continuous improvement of planning processes
Module 13: Integrated Supply Chain Planning Workshop
- Review a sample business scenario
- Develop a demand forecast
- Identify inventory and capacity requirements
- Prepare a supply and replenishment plan
- Resolve demand-supply imbalances
- Define appropriate planning KPIs
- Present and evaluate the proposed supply chain plan
