What a supply chain is, how it competes, and how it is measured.
Supply chain, mapped for placements
Learn supply chain one decision at a time.
Demand, inventory, networks, logistics, risk and SAP, laid out like a transit map. Read any stop as a two-minute gist, open how it works, or ride all the way to the deep dive.
Continue where you left offThe map
11 lines and 105 stops, grouped by how far ahead each decision looks.
- Ready to read
- Interchange: on two lines
- Levels available
Start here
The vocabulary, KPIs and analytical tools every other line builds on.
The statistics, optimization and AI behind every decision on the map.
Plan
Months aheadForecast demand, size inventory and turn both into a supply plan.
What customers will want, when, and how sure we can be.
- Forecasting fundamentals
- Demand patterns & classification
- Exponential smoothing & ETS
- Intermittent demand: Croston, SBA, TSB
- ML & global forecasting models
- Forecast accuracy & bias
- Probabilistic forecasting
- Hierarchical forecasting
- Promotions, cannibalization & halo
- New products & phase-outs
- Demand sensing & shaping
- Consensus forecasting & FVA
How much stock to hold, where to hold it, and what it protects you from.
Turning the demand plan into production and purchase plans that fit capacity.
Design
Years aheadLong-term choices about where facilities sit and who supplies them.
Where plants and warehouses should sit, how big they should be, and who serves whom.
- What network design decides
- Six distribution network designs
- Facility location models
- Greenfield studies
- Manufacturing footprint & plant roles
- Channel design & omnichannel
- Cross-docking vs stocking
- Postponement in the network
- Reverse logistics networks
- Carbon-aware network design
- Scenario modeling & digital twins
Who you buy from, how you split the volume, and the terms that share the risk.
Run
Days to weeksMoving goods and keeping promises to customers, every day.
Moving and storing goods at the lowest cost that still keeps the delivery promise.
Promising, allocating and delivering orders, and handling what comes back.
Protect
Always onCost, risk and sustainability decisions that guard the whole chain.
What each customer really costs, how the chain survives shocks, and its footprint.
Execute in SAP
How the ideas on this map run inside an ERP, transaction by transaction.
How the ideas on this map run inside SAP, transaction by transaction.
Prep paths
Eight stops for each kind of role, in the order the ideas build on each other.
Supply chain analytics & planning
Planning software firms and analytics teams
Supply chain consulting
Strategy and operations consulting
SAP functional (MM, SD, PP)
SAP consulting and ERP roles
Operations & manufacturing
Plant, FMCG and manufacturing roles