Sourcing Excellence

Overview

Supply Chains are made up of a network of companies from the initial raw materials to the ultimate consumer of the finished product. Within this network of companies, there are three ongoing flows: products, information, and finances. To properly understand and manage the supply chain, you need to understand all the flows. If you do not consider all of the flows, you will miss opportunities or sub-optimize parts of the supply chain. The second of five courses in this specialization will focus on Sourcing Excellence. You will learn how the inbound flow of products, information, and finances into the company facilitates the supply chain. It will consist of four modules, which will cover the following topics: core sourcing elements; inbound information flow; supply chain financing; and finally the capstone case study. You will have lectures, readings, and discussions with your peers for each topic, as well as a practice quiz in each lesson. At the end of each module, you can put your knowledge to the test and take a graded quiz. The Capstone Analysis module contains a real-life case analysis, as well as a supply chain management project that will enable you to be an expert on a company of your choosing.

Syllabus

Module 1: Core Sourcing Elements

Sourcing manages the flow of raw materials that are required for the company to build its products. The main goals are to understand the main decision points of products entering the firm, as well as procurement decisions. The module is made up of three lessons: 1. Raw Material Inventories, 2. Quality, 3. Procurement Excellence. This is the second course in the Supply Chain Excellence Specialization.

Module 2: Sourcing Information Systems and Forecasting

This module will introduce you to procure-to-pay systems, which are one of the most popular types of systems companies are currently implementing. The other part of the module features some hands-on work. We will go over forecasting algorithms. If you had experience with forecasting or have successfully completed the Supply Chain Planning course, this will be a repetition and you can just skip to the quiz. Otherwise, it will be a nice introduction to forecasting.

Module 3: Supply Chain Financing

In this module, we will cover financial flows with suppliers. This includes how companies are trying to preserve their capital by extending payment terms, a tool called supply chain finance that can help provide liquidity in supply chains, and an overview of payment practices.

Module 4: Sourcing Excellence Capstone

Now that we have reached the end of this course, it is time to put all of your new knowledge to the test. Not only will you be able to take a second attempt at your SCM project by improving your original submission and adding a new section on information flow. Finally, you will perform a quantitative analysis of a real-life business case and suggest improvements.