Free online courseSupply Chain Digitization

Course Description

Modern supply chains are being reshaped by data, platforms, and automation. This free online course in Professional Skills helps you understand what supply chain digitization really means in day-to-day business and how to move from traditional, siloed decisions to connected, measurable performance. You will build a practical foundation in supply chain management and learn how responsiveness, efficiency, inventory turns, and process design influence cost, service levels, and resilience across end-to-end flows.

As the course progresses, you explore how companies handle uncertainty and complexity through segmentation, push vs pull strategies, and smarter procurement decisions. You will also connect operational choices to corporate goals, learning how strategy translates into make vs buy decisions and supplier positioning. The goal is to help you think like a decision-maker who can align supply chain structure, sourcing approach, and customer promise rather than optimizing one area at the expense of the whole system.

A major emphasis is digital decision-making. You will work with the mindset behind analytics and Big Data in supply chains, including how organizations move from descriptive insights to diagnostic understanding, and from there to predictive approaches. Practical examples show how forecasting and maintenance decisions can be improved with AI/ML methods, giving you an applied view of models such as decision trees and random forests and the types of questions they help answer.

You will also learn how digitization supports network design and optimization, including facility location decisions and distribution planning that balance capacity, cost, and service requirements. Beyond planning, the course highlights execution enablers such as ERP and WMS systems, product tracking and traceability, and the growing importance of visibility. Finally, you will understand advanced concepts like supply chain digital twins and Industry 4.0 technologies—IoT, cloud, simulation, cybersecurity, blockchain, and automation—and how they fit into a coherent digital infrastructure. By the end, you will be able to speak confidently about the tools, trade-offs, and value of digitizing logistics and supply chain operations in real organizations.