Course Overview
Effective management of inventory, logistics, and materials is critical to ensuring smooth operations, minimizing costs, and meeting customer demands. This course provides practical insights and best practices for controlling inventory levels, optimizing logistics processes, and managing materials throughout the supply chain.
Participants will learn techniques to forecast demand accurately, reduce stockouts and excess inventory, improve warehouse operations, and coordinate logistics for timely delivery. The course blends theory, case studies, and hands-on exercises to equip professionals with tools to enhance supply chain performance.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Understand the principles and importance of inventory control and materials management
- Implement effective inventory management techniques to balance cost and service
- Optimize logistics and transportation to improve supply chain efficiency
- Use forecasting and demand planning tools for accurate inventory replenishment
- Manage warehouse operations for improved accuracy and productivity
- Coordinate materials flow across procurement, production, and distribution
- Apply technology and automation to enhance inventory and logistics management
- Analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) and drive continuous improvement
Who Should Attend
This course is ideal for:
- Inventory and materials managers
- Logistics and supply chain professionals
- Warehouse supervisors and operations managers
- Procurement and purchasing officers
- Production planners and schedulers
- Anyone involved in supply chain and operations management
Course Outline
- Introduction to Inventory Control and Materials Management
- Role of inventory, logistics, and materials in supply chain success
- Types of inventory: raw materials, WIP, finished goods
- Costs associated with inventory: holding, ordering, shortage
- Materials management principles and objectives
- Inventory Management Techniques
- ABC analysis and inventory classification
- Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) and reorder point
- Safety stock calculation and inventory buffers
- Just-In-Time (JIT) and lean inventory concepts
- Demand Forecasting and Planning
- Importance of accurate demand forecasting
- Quantitative and qualitative forecasting methods
- Collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR)
- Using historical data and market trends
- Warehouse Management
- Warehouse layout and design principles
- Inventory tracking systems and cycle counting
- Best practices in receiving, storage, picking, and dispatch
- Warehouse safety and compliance
- Logistics and Transportation Management
- Overview of logistics functions and modes of transport
- Route planning, load optimization, and freight consolidation
- Managing inbound and outbound logistics
- Role of third-party logistics providers (3PLs)
- Materials Handling and Control
- Handling equipment and material flow optimization
- Packaging, labeling, and documentation standards
- Minimizing damage, loss, and obsolescence
- Coordination between procurement, production, and logistics
- Technology in Inventory and Logistics
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
- Barcoding, RFID, and automated data capture
- Inventory management software and dashboards
- Emerging trends: IoT, AI, and blockchain in supply chain
- Performance Measurement and Continuous Improvement
- Key performance indicators (KPIs) for inventory and logistics
- Inventory turnover, fill rate, order accuracy, and delivery time
- Root cause analysis and problem-solving techniques
- Lean and Six Sigma approaches for continuous improvement
- Case Studies and Practical Exercises
- Real-world examples of successful inventory and logistics management
- Group exercises on inventory classification and forecasting
- Simulation of warehouse operations and logistics planning
- Developing an action plan for inventory and logistics optimization