Best Way to Learn Supply Chain Management and Logistics

Today, most of what we know of how sales and management are executed has seen an overhaul. Production in every part of the industry is struggling to keep up with the demand, making specific skills much more desirable in 2021.

There are many different ways of coping with the current situation we’re facing as we head into 2021. However, supply chain management and logistics seem to be at the forefront of company requirements. With that being said, we’ll be talking about the fundamentals of the supply chain, where to start learning, and how you can prepare yourself for it. Here you will find the best way to learn supply chain management and logistics.

Why Learn Supply Chain Management?

In simple terms, a supply chain is a structured network of various organizations and individuals working in production. Moreover, these people take part in the transfer of materials, manufacturing process, and finally, the delivery to multiple suppliers. At the end of the chain is when each consumer is finally able to receive their product.

Supply chain management and logistics is the intricate process of handling these processes. Professionals often stress the importance of considering every little detail when trying to manage sales in a business. Finally, each consumer must receive a consistent level of quality to their products to ensure a long-lasting relationship between customer and supplier. Take note that each entity within the supply chain will benefit from excellent quality from all distribution levels.

You might be wondering about how to learn supply chain management despite the current pandemic situation. Fortunately, there are various methods to learn practical courses without having to leave the house. Many online education providers have improved over the years, and today, we’ll be featuring a few courses from different platforms.

Requirements to Study Supply Chain Management

Many misconceptions surround the concept of who should study supply chain management. However, most people fail to realize that online courses tend to be more flexible towards aspiring learners. More importantly, these courses have self-paced lessons that you can start and continue at any time.

However, while anyone can pick up these courses, experienced learners have obvious advantages. There isn’t any definitive path to take when studying supply chain, but starting with the introductory courses should be appropriate for most people. In retrospect, going for the most intensive courses would be the smarter decision. Yet, with flexible and self-paced learning present in most platforms, studying becomes more interactive and straightforward.

You can rest assured knowing that professionals, students, and existing experts in the supply chain field can take up any of these courses. Conversely, taking up traditional learning without prior experience in related fields will cripple progress when approaching advanced topics.

Where to Study Supply Chain Management and Logistics

There are many ways to study supply chain management, but formal education or private tutoring would be the most obvious. However, due to the health risks of the pandemic, most people are currently learning from home. Indeed, leading educational providers are now setting up their respective platforms to compete against traditional learning.

In fact, statistics show that online learning platforms are now skyrocketing in revenue due to the pandemic. While this isn’t ideal, there are many advantages to learning online. First, students can come on their own time and remain flexible with their courses. Second and lastly, expenses are kept at a minimum because students are charged only a fraction of traditional learning costs.

With that out of the way, five of our most recommended online courses to start a career in supply chain management and logistics today are listed below.

Here are our recommendations:

1. Supply Chain Innovation: How Technology Can Create a Sustainable Future

Our first recommendation comes from Futurelearn’s Business & Management department. The course caters towards research and development more than honing expertise in modern supply chain trends. Moreover, the program promises a better understanding of how innovation can impact society moving forward. Indeed, this course is one of the better choices to learn about logistics and supply chain management today.

2. System Design for Supply Chain Management and Logistics

Today, any computing-based system relies on logistics and supply chain structures to ensure efficient productivity. The next course is an excellent choice if you want to learn more about how modern computers use supply chain structures. More importantly, the program will let you approach learning from the system’s perspective and how it operates using the sustainability model.

3. Supply Chain Management: A Learning Perspective

Coursera remains to be one of the leading providers for quality online education today. Therefore, this introductory program should be on the top of your list for supply chain management and logistics courses. Further, this program will enable you to understand the supply chain from a distributor, supplier, and consumer perspective.

4. Sustainability and Green Logistics: An Introduction

The next course is geared towards beginners and those just starting in supply chain management. Luckily, this course features relatable content with more advanced programs, making it easy to transition in the future. This course will teach about how sustainability is achieved by mitigating logistics’ adverse effects on the environment.

5. Supply Chain Management: A Decision-Making Framework

Supply chain management is one of the most sought-after skills today, so much that companies are paying good money to find worthy candidates. For that reason alone, investing in quality education will give you the proper leverage against competing applicants. In this course, you will understand the process of design and the strategies used in making framework-based decisions.

Takeaway

The best way to learn supply chain management and logistics remains in online education at this point. However, when the pandemic situation calms down, and things return to normal, our recommendations may differ. Until then, take time to research each of the courses and figure out which program suits your needs the best. The time to start taking control of how products interact with your life starts with the first choice from these key recommendations.