I took my first supply chain lesson in 2018. As a pharmacy student at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, supply chain management of health commodities was part of the modules in Pharmacy management. I was drawn to the course Supply Chain Management by ASU because of its promises of optimizing the business of health, emphasizing the use of information in making supply chain decisions on drug commodities. I decided to intern the same year at the Africa Resource Centre for Excellence in Supply Chain Management which is the foremost supply chain organization in Nigeria. The organization offered me a platform to volunteer for both private companies and ministries of health as part of the experiential learning. I have also taken more than 10 certification courses on supply chain management before this one on Class Central.

Why I took this course

I stumbled on this particular course in search of free courses that would widen my perspective on supply chain management. I would say I found what I was looking for. Though the course offered only the basic concepts in supply chain management, I found it enriching as it tried to tie all the supply chain stages into one system.

The course comprised 19 modules with some of them offering introductory lessons to advanced online supply chain courses in Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School. The delivery was in the form of recorded videos; therefore the lessons were self-paced. The videos were concise and engaging with many colorful graphics. The delivery by the tutor was compelling and motivating. I was able to cover an average of three modules a day; so it took me only one week to finish the course.

The course

As I have already mentioned, the course contained 19 modules which covered the fundamentals of supply chain management and its operational and strategic perspectives. It covered supply chain functions including procurement, manufacturing, transportation and demand management and thereafter integrated all the drivers of logistics. There were also lessons in Global supply chain management, sustainability, information technology and quality management. I always looked forward to operational calculations in supply chain courses but there was none in this particular course, but perhaps good news to those who are scared of math. There was also no assignment or final exam which was not surprising since it was a free course on YouTube. However, I find the course pretty simple, probably because it was a reinforcement of what I already learnt in previous courses I had taken in the past.

Conclusion

I highly recommend this course to scholars who are new to a supply chain career and looking for a great place to start!