Supply Chain Analytics

Welcome to Supply Chain Analytics - an exciting area that is in high demand! In this introductory course to Supply Chain Analytics, I will take you on a journey to this fascinating area that applies data analytics to diagnose and solve problems in supply chain management. You will learn real life examples on how data analytics can generate a significant financial and economic impact in various domains of a supply chain, from selling, to logistics, production and sourcing. You will learn job market outlook, requirement and preparation. Lastly, you will see the power of data analytics by using it to identify your dream jobs. Upon completing this course, you will 1. See the pain points of a supply chain and how data analytics may relieve them. 2. Understand why analytics is critical to supply chain management and how supply chain analytics may create a long-term competitive advantage. 3. See the impact of supply chain analytics on companies' financials and stock market performance. 4. Learn supply chain analytics job opportunities and preparation, and find your dream jobs using data analytics. This course is for you, if, 1. you are starting your career in supply chain management, either sourcing / procurement, or production / operations planning, or distribution / logistics; 2. you are already familiar with the basic supply chain management concepts and hope to upskill with data analytics; 3. you already learned the data analytics skills and hope to make a financial and economic impact in the supply chain field. I hope you enjoy the course!

Welcome to Demand Analytics - one of the most sought-after skills in supply chain management and marketing! Through the real-life story and data of a leading cookware manufacturer in North America, you will learn the data analytics skills for demand planning and forecasting. Upon the completion of this course, you will be able to 1. Improve the forecasting accuracy by building and validating demand prediction models. 2. Better stimulate and influence demand by identifying the drivers (e.g., time, seasonality, price, and other environmental factors) for demand and quantifying their impact. AK is a leading cookware manufacturer in North America. Its newly launched top-line product was gaining momentum in the marketplace. However, a price adjustment at the peak season stimulated a significant demand surge which took AK completely by surprise and resulted in huge backorders. AK faced the risk of losing the market momentum due to the upset customers and the high cost associated with over-time production and expedited shipping. Accurate demand forecast is essential for increasing revenue and reducing cost. Identifying the drivers for demand and assessing their impact on demand can help companies better influence and stimulate demand. I hope you enjoy the course!

Welcome to Supply Chain Analytics - the art and science of applying data analytics to assess and improve supply chain performance! A supply chain is a complex system with conflicting objectives of cost efficiency and customer satisfaction. Supply chain management is becoming increasingly data driven. Through the real-life story and data of a major US telecommunication company, you will learn the analytics tools / skills to diagnose and optimize a supply chain. Upon completion of this course, you will be able to 1. Use data analytics to assess the impact of various strategies on all aspects of a supply chain, from inventory, shipping, to warehouse order fulfillment, store operations and customer satisfaction. 2. Customize the supply chain strategy by product to improve the overall cost efficiency without sacrificing customer service. 3. Obtain hands-on experience on the application and financial impact of analytics in integrated supply chain and logistics planning. VASTA (name disguised) is a major wireless carrier in the US selling cell phones through a national network of retail stores. Recently, it wrote off a huge amount of obsolete inventory each year and was suffering a significant cost inefficiency in an increasingly stagnant market. VASTA must assess the competitive environment, and renovate its supply chain to stay competitive. At the end of this course, you will help VASTA save $billions on supply chain cost and retain its leadership in a stagnant and saturated market. I hope you enjoy the course!

By the end of 2019, it is clear that American Airlines (AAL), the world’s largest airline group and a SP500 company, is in trouble. With the growth rate of its stock price ranked at the bottom of all major US airlines and going in the opposite direction from the SP500 index, AAL needs to find out what is going on, and how to turn the company and its stock price around. Addressing the challenge faced by AAL may well be a large-scale management consulting project. To start, business intelligence and competitive analysis (or competitive intelligence for short) is required to discover the problems and opportunities for the company which lay the foundation for the turning-around strategies. In this course, you will gain the knowledge and skills to combine data, analytics models and visualization tools for effective and efficient competitive intelligence. Upon completion of the course, you should be able to conduct competitive intelligence on companies of your choice as a management consultant. Note: To gain hands-on experiences in competitive intelligence via data analytics, you need to get into action. To this end, this course utilizes an external website (free) for you to practice the skills learned.

Inventory analytics is the corner stone of supply chain analytics. A company in trade industries may have 30-50% of their assets tied up in inventory. An effective inventory management can improve revenue by increasing product variety and availability, and reduce cost and speed up cash cycle by reducing excessive inventory and waste. Through real-life examples (e.g., Amazon vs. Macy’s), you will learn hands-on tools and skills to discover and solve inventory problems by data analytics. Upon completion, you can answer the following questions: 1. For which industries is inventory important? 2. How may inventory drive a company’s financial performance? 3. How do I know that I have an inventory problem? 4. How to classify inventory and manage it accordingly? Note: This course is for beginners and thus focuses more on discovering inventory problems than solving them. It is my belief that discovering a problem and knowing which directions to go is at least equally important as solving the problem. We are planning to launch new courses or expand this course to cover more sophisticated inventory solutions in the future - thank you.