How to Become an Expert Professional in Supply Chain Management

How to Become an Expert Professional in Supply Chain Management?

The world moves with efficient supply chain management and with an increasing inclination towards e-commerce, the need for working professionals in this sector will only continue to grow. If you are not well versed with what exactly supply chain management is along with all the necessary skills required to build a career in the field, this learn path will guide you through. This is an overview of an otherwise more comprehensive learn path, the details of which you shall find at the end of the article.

What is supply chain management?

Supply Chain Management is an expansive field that manages the flow of goods and services including all the processes converting raw materials into finished goods. It streamlines business’ supply side activities to maximize customer value and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Designing, farming, transporting, manufacturing etc constitute supply chain activities. Essentially the supply chain stands on five pillars which constitute its working namely: planning, manufacturing, sourcing, delivery and logistics and returning.

Skills required: A career in supply chain management will require a combination of soft skills and technical skills, both of which you’ll need to master. ❖ Soft skills constitute the basis of the skill set and are gradually built with consistency.

Let us discuss the important ones.

1. Teamwork and collaboration for developing swiftness and efficiency in delivering e-added products and services.

2. Communication in order to know about the needs of the parties involved to carry out the project successfully for the sustainability of the business.

3. Problem solving as operating a supply chain requires managers to make tough decisions quickly which requires strong problem solving skills.

4. Time & project management in order to simultaneously manage resources, time and stakeholders to complete orders within the specified time frame.

5. Networking for connecting all the stakeholders such as suppliers and customers to ensure a stable flow of goods and services. ●

Technical skills should be taken into consideration now that you have acquired the soft skills. They are bifurcated further in 3 levels in ascending order

●

Entry level skills are the first set of technical skills that you’ll need to amass. They’re discussed below:

●

Fundamentals: Focus on gaining knowledge about supply chain planning, coordination and strategy, capacity planning and management, procurement, forecasting, contract administration, inventory management and strategic sourcing.

For more comprehensive and structured learning, you can refer to the following courses:

●

●

●

○

Supply Chain Fundamentals Provider : edX, Price : ₹23,179 ($318), Duration : 13 Weeks, Level : Intermediate

○

Supply Chain Management Specialization - Coursera Provider : Coursera, Price : ₹7,396 ($98), Duration : 6 months, Level : Beginner

Business foundation: Gain a basic understanding of Operations Management, Financial Accounting, Marketing, human resource management which will help you analyze and improve business processes, understand go-to-market strategies, read cash-flow statements, and effectively manage human capital. You can also opt for a course to gain a deeper understanding of this domain by the following courses: ○

Business Foundations Provider : edX, Price : ₹11,628 ($160), Duration : 6 Weeks, Level : Beginner

○

Business Foundations Specialization Provider : Coursera, Price : ₹11,925 ($159), Duration : 7 Months, Level : Beginner

Financial statement: Start by understanding the basics of the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement and learning to operate and calculate those. For structured learning, you can refer to the following courses: ○

Understanding Financial Statements: Company Performance Provider : Coursera, Price : ₹11,925 ($159), Duration : 12 Hours, Level: Beginner

○

Reading Financial statements Provider : CFI, Price : Free, Duration : 1.5 hours, Level: Beginner

Spreadsheet: Spreadsheets such as MS Excel and Google spreadsheets are important for performing everyday tasks and specialized tasks such as supply chain modeling, demand planning etc. You can opt for the following courses to learn the basics of spreadsheets and apply them in the supply chain management domain. ○ ○

Mastering MS Excel - Data Preparation Functions Provider : Skillshare, Price : ₹1,252 ($17), Duration : 1.24 Hour, Level : Intermediate Excel for Everyone - Core Foundation Provider : edX, Price : ₹11,551 ($159), Duration : 6 Weeks, Level : Beginner

●

SPM Tools: You can get a basic idea of Order processing tools, Supplier management tools, Warehouse management tools, Demand forecasting tools etc. You can opt for the following courses to learn about supply chain management tools: ○

●

Supply Chain Management Tools and Techniques Provider : edX, Price : ₹23,179 ($318), Duration : 4 Weeks, Level : Beginner

Intermediate level skills add an edge to your career. Once you’ve mastered the basics you can move further and get hold of intermediate skills. There are a lot of options available so you’ll have to find your area of interest and go ahead in advancing those.

●

●

●

Supply chain analytics helps to uncover patterns and generate insights from the data from every step of the supply chain. You can choose to learn supply chain analytics through the following courses, based on your requirements and interest. ○

Supply Chain Analytics by Coursera Provider : Coursera, Price : ₹5,887 ($78), Duration : 9 Hours, Level : Beginner

○

Supply Chain Analytics Provider : edX, Price : ₹15,427 ($212), Duration : 15 Weeks, Level : Beginner

Cost accounting enhances strategic cost management, value chain management, pricing of services etc. Few courses you can opt for to gain a basic understanding of cost accounting are: ○

Accounting Fundamentals Provider : Corporate Finance Institute, Price : Free, Duration : 2.5 Hours, Level : Beginner

○

Introduction to Cost Accounting Provider : Coursera, Price : ₹754 ($10), Duration : 2 Hours, Level : Beginner

SPM software serves the purpose of tracking materials in a shared production or assembly process. Below is the course you can opt for learning. ○

SAP SCM - Overview of the SAP Supply Chain Management Application Provider : SAP Training, Price : Approx ₹1,80,000 ($2400), Duration : 3 days, Level : Beginner

●

Specialization; at this point you can find your area of interest and move for specialization in any area under SPM.

●

Expert Level Skills should be acquired once you’ve established your credentials as a professional. We’ve listed below some important ones that you can choose from.

●

Artificial Intelligence: Improving the efficiency of the supply chain is of great importance for many companies, and artificial intelligence has been embraced heavily by this industry.

You can add an edge to your career by learning this skill from the following top courses:

●

○

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) Provider : QuickStart, Price : Not Mentioned, Duration : 16 Hours, Level : Beginner

○

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Provider : edX, Price : ₹19,303 ($265), Duration : 12 Weeks, Level: Advanced

Advance Spreadsheet: Supply Chain activities require spending a considerable period of time in the Excel spreadsheet environment. Thus, advanced training in this sector is important to make you more efficient in your work and in specialized sectors.

You can opt for the following course to have a structured learning experience: ○ Advanced Excel Workshop Provider : Grey Campus, Price : Not mentioned, Duration : 8 Hours, Level : Beginner

●

Specialized learning: At an expert level, you need to stay relevant through constant upskilling and opt for advanced and executive-level programs.

We have shortlisted the following courses for you: ○

Advanced program in Supply Chain Management Provider : Hughes Global Education, Price : ₹4,24,000 ($5,819), Duration : 1 year, Level : Advanced

Career Prospects: In this profile, you can find a number of job roles to choose from namely –●

Procurement Manager

●

Facilities Manager

●

Production Manager

●

Supply Chain Manager

●

Strategic Sourcing Manager

Conclusion: Supply Chain Management is one of the most lucrative career options available. With the changing dynamics, it has become more appealing mainly due to huge job diversity whilst ensuring adequate job growth as well. The area is expanding on a large scale with good salary packages available. So if you hope to find a steady, high-paying work and versatile job, this might be the career for you.

If you found this job profile interesting and would like to read an elaborated version, you can refer to our comprehensive learn path for supply chain management. You’ll discover the learning options available with all of their pros and cons, how to learn the aforementioned skills and the job profiles available in this field in order to make a more informed decision.

We have a lot of learn paths which you can explore from our advice page.

Careervira.com is a global edtech market platform. With over 12K+ courses from 65+ global partners across tech and non-tech domains. Careervira.com provides 70+ key decision-making inputs to search and compare from amongst top global courses to zero down on your decision-making by learning partner, skills, course, price, and learn type.