Logistics and Supply Chain
For logistics and supply-chain starters: trace one customer order across capture, sourcing, warehouse, transport and delivery, and spot risks at each handoff.
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Logistics and Supply Chain
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About this course
A foundation for coordinators and operations learners. You will map the six stages of an order, identify where delays, oversells or mislabelled parcels can begin, and connect sourcing choices with delivery speed, cost and carbon. At work, you can explain an exception using the system, actor and next handoff involved. An order placed by a customer travels through six sequential stages — capture, payment, sourcing, warehouse operations, transportation, and last-mile delivery — each governed by distinct actors, systems, and metrics. The Order Management System acts as the central coordinator, while sourcing decisions determine which node fulfills the order, directly affecting speed, cost, and carbon footprint. Because most failures occur at the handoffs between stages rather than within them, tracing a single order end to end is the most effective way to develop a practical mental map of the entire supply chain. Inventory policy rests on three measurable inputs — average demand, lead time, and demand variability — which feed directly into the safety stock formula (Z × σ_D × √L) and the reorder point calculation (ROP = D × L + safety stock). ABC analysis then allocates management attention by ranking SKUs on annual usage value, reserving tight reorder controls and frequent review cycles for the small share of items that generate the majority of inventory value. This module walks you through the physical journey of goods once they arrive at the warehouse: receiving, putaway, slotting, picking, and dispatch. You will learn how small design choices — like where to place a product on a shelf or which picking method to use — directly affect speed and accuracy. All numbers in examples are illustrative; the goal is to teach you how to measure your own operation, not to memorize industry averages. This module walks you through how goods actually move once an order is placed: choosing between road, sea and air based on cost, speed and risk; reading a freight quote so no line surprises you later; and using Incoterms so buyer and seller know exactly who pays and who is liable at every step of the journey. Three KPIs — OTIF (on-time in-full rate), inventory turnover, and cost per order — together reveal whether customers are being served reliably, whether capital is being used efficiently, and whether the operation is financially sustainable, and each must be read alongside the others to avoid optimizing one at the expense of the rest. When a KPI falls short, applying the 80/20 rule to segment problem orders by SKU, route, or supplier typically reveals that a small number of causes drive the majority of failures, and the 5 Whys technique then drills from observable symptom to an actionable root cause.
What you'll learn
- By the end of this module, you'll be able to map the six stages of a customer order—capture, payment, sourcing, warehouse, transport, and delivery—onto a real purchase you have made, naming the actors and systems involved at each stage.
- By the end of this module, you'll be able to identify the specific handoff points in an order's journey—such as OMS-to-warehouse or warehouse-to-carrier—where delays, oversells, and mislabeled parcels most commonly originate.
- By the end of this module, you'll be able to explain why the last-mile segment accounts for the largest share of total shipping cost and why sourcing-node selection directly affects both delivery speed and carbon output.
- By the end of this module, you'll be able to calculate safety stock using the formula Z × σ_D × √L for a chosen service level, selecting the correct Z factor from a standard table and interpreting the result in units of inventory.
- By the end of this module, you'll be able to derive a reorder point by combining average demand, supplier lead time, and safety stock, then explain how shortening lead time reduces both the reorder point and the cash tied up in buffer inventory.
- By the end of this module, you'll be able to classify a SKU list into ABC tiers by computing annual usage value, ranking items by cumulative percentage, and assigning a review cadence and service-level target to each tier.
- Describe the five core warehouse flows and what can go wrong at each stage
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