Business · Diploma · 52 weeks · Classroom

Supply Chain & Logistics

Procurement, inventory, transportation, and logistics coordination — demand forecasting, supplier evaluation, and logistics technology.

📚 3 modules📝 12 lessons🧪 12 labs📍 3 campuses

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What you'll learn

Core topics

ProcurementInventory managementWarehousingTransportationDemand forecastingLogistics technologyCustoms basicsLean & continuous improvement

Study guide

Modules & lessons

Work top to bottom — every lesson has an objective, curated resources, a hands-on lab, and a self-check.

Module 1 · Supply Chain Foundations Beginner 4 lessons ›

What a Supply Chain Is

🎯 Map the flow of materials, information, and money.

A supply chain moves three flows: materials (suppliers → production → distribution → customer), information (orders, forecasts, tracking), and money (invoices, payments). Every link adds cost and lead time; the coordinator's job is keeping all three flows fast, visible, and cheap without breaking reliability.

Resources: Coursera: Supply Chain Principles (audit)ASCM/ APICS basics

🧪 Lab: Draw the three flows for an online clothing order.

✍️ Self-check question

Why can faster material flow sometimes increase total cost?

Key Metrics: Lead Time, Fill Rate, Turns

🎯 Measure supply chain performance.

Core KPIs: lead time (order to receipt), fill rate (% of demand shipped complete), inventory turns (COGS ÷ average inventory — higher is leaner), on-time delivery, and perfect order rate. You cannot improve what you do not measure — weekly KPI dashboards are standard in Canadian warehouses.

Resources: ASCM dictionaryKhan Academy: ratios review

🧪 Lab: Compute turns for a business with $1.2M COGS and $300k average inventory.

✍️ Self-check question

A supplier has 95% on-time but 70% fill rate — what is the real problem?

Procurement & Purchasing Basics

🎯 Run a simple purchase cycle.

The purchasing cycle: requisition → supplier quotes → purchase order → receipt → three-way match (PO, receiving report, invoice) → payment. Good buyers compare total cost (price + freight + quality failures + lead time), not just unit price, and keep supplier scorecards.

Resources: CIPS procurement guidesOntario supply chain resources

🧪 Lab: Create a PO and perform a three-way match on a sample invoice with one discrepancy.

✍️ Self-check question

What is a three-way match and what fraud does it prevent?

Warehousing & Inventory Basics

🎯 Explain warehouse flow and inventory classes.

Warehouses flow: receiving → putaway → storage → picking → packing → shipping. Inventory is classified with ABC analysis (A = high value, tight control; C = cheap, bulk control). Slotting fast movers near shipping cuts walking time — productivity in a warehouse is measured in seconds per pick.

Resources: WERC warehouse resourcesInventory Ops: ABC analysis

🧪 Lab: Classify 12 sample SKUs into A/B/C by annual value.

✍️ Self-check question

Why not give every SKU the same counting frequency?

Module 2 · Planning, Transport & Technology Intermediate 4 lessons ›

Demand Forecasting

🎯 Build a simple forecast and measure its error.

Forecasts start with history: moving averages and seasonal indexes handle most small-business demand. Every forecast is wrong — measure error with MAPE and keep safety stock for the gap. Promotions and events must be layered in manually; the spreadsheet does not know about your sale next week.

Resources: Khan Academy: statistics basicsForesight/ASCM forecasting primers

🧪 Lab: Forecast next month using a 3-month moving average, then compute MAPE against actuals.

✍️ Self-check question

Why is a forecast with low error still risky without safety stock?

Transportation & Freight Basics

🎯 Compare modes and read a bill of lading.

Modes trade cost vs speed: truck (flexible, dominant in Canada), rail (bulk, long haul), ocean (cheapest, slowest), air (fastest, priciest). The bill of lading is the contract, receipt, and title document in one. Incoterms (FOB, CIF, DDP) define where cost and risk transfer — misreading them is expensive.

Resources: Transport Canada resourcesICC: Incoterms 2020 overview

🧪 Lab: Choose a mode and Incoterm for: (a) fresh produce BC→Toronto, (b) electronics Shenzhen→Vancouver.

✍️ Self-check question

Under FOB shipping point, who owns the goods in transit?

Logistics Technology: WMS, TMS, ERP

🎯 Describe what each system does and how they connect.

ERP (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite) holds orders and finance; WMS runs the warehouse floor (locations, picks, scans); TMS plans carriers and freight cost. Integration means an order flows from ERP → WMS → TMS without retyping. Excel remains the universal backup — coordinators export, clean, and analyze daily.

Resources: SAP Learning (free tier)Microsoft Learn: Supply Chain Management

🧪 Lab: Trace an online order through ERP, WMS, and TMS in a diagram.

✍️ Self-check question

What breaks when systems are not integrated?

International Trade & Customs Basics

🎯 Prepare a basic import document set.

Imports into Canada need: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, and CBSA accounting documents; duties depend on HS classification and origin (CUSMA can zero them for US/Mexico goods). Customs brokers handle filings, but coordinators must supply accurate data — wrong HS codes mean fines.

Resources: CBSA: importing basicsCUSMA rules of origin overview

🧪 Lab: Classify three products (guess HS chapters) and list the documents each shipment needs.

✍️ Self-check question

What does a customs broker do, and what remains your responsibility?

Module 3 · Professional Practice Professional 4 lessons ›

Inventory Optimization & Safety Stock

🎯 Set reorder points with real numbers.

Reorder point = (average daily demand × lead time) + safety stock. Safety stock grows with demand variability and supplier unreliability. Service level is a business decision — 95% vs 99% availability can double inventory. Dead stock reviews free cash trapped in the warehouse.

Resources: ASCM: inventory managementInventory planners' guides (netstock/LeanDNA blogs)

🧪 Lab: Compute a reorder point: demand 40/day, lead time 6 days, safety stock 120 units.

✍️ Self-check question

Who should decide the service level — the warehouse or sales? Why?

Continuous Improvement (Lean/5S)

🎯 Run a small kaizen on a real process.

Lean removes waste: overproduction, waiting, transport, overprocessing, inventory, motion, defects (TIMWOOD). 5S (Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize, Sustain) organizes the workspace. A kaizen event maps the current state, finds waste, and tests a fix in days — document before/after with photos and numbers.

Resources: Lean Enterprise Institute primersASQ: 7 wastes

🧪 Lab: Run 5S on your study desk and photograph the before/after with a one-line waste note.

✍️ Self-check question

Which waste hides inside 'we have always done it this way'?

Communication & Cross-Functional Coordination

🎯 Handle a supply disruption professionally.

Supply chains fail at handoffs: sales promises what purchasing cannot get, warehouses learn late. The coordinator's tools: short daily huddles, shared trackers, and escalation messages that state impact + options + recommendation. Bad news early is a solution; bad news late is a crisis.

Resources: Harvard Business Review: managing up (free articles)SCMA resources

🧪 Lab: Write a 5-line escalation email: key part delayed 10 days, customer order at risk — propose two options.

✍️ Self-check question

What three elements must every escalation message contain?

Career Launch: Certifications & Interview Prep

🎯 Position yourself for coordinator roles.

Canadian employers scan for: Excel (pivot tables, lookups), ERP exposure, KPI vocabulary, and certificates (ASCM CPIM/CSCP later, free micro-courses now). Interview answers should quantify: 'reduced pick errors 15% by relabelling bins'. Job titles to target: logistics coordinator, inventory clerk, procurement assistant.

Resources: ASCM certification overviewJob Bank Canada: logistics coordinator postings

🧪 Lab: Draft five resume bullets quantifying your lab results from this program.

✍️ Self-check question

Which three keywords appear in most Canadian logistics job posts?

Test yourself

Program quiz

🧠 Supply Chain & Logistics — knowledge check

Instant scoring · progress saved on your device · retake anytime

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Career outcomes

Logistics CoordinatorProcurement AssistantInventory AnalystWarehouse SupervisorTransportation CoordinatorSupply Chain Analyst

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Where it's offered

Toronto · Hamilton · London

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