Analyse inventory management and learn about the economic order quantity

On this two-week course, you’ll learn key inventory concepts including their classification, costs, and benefits.

You’ll also learn about the ABC analysis and how this crucial technique can help in your inventory management.

Explore the Economic Order Quantity and the bullwhip effect

Understanding the concept of the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) method will help you minimise inventory costs such as order costs and holding costs.

You’ll be introduced to the EOQ concept as well as the bullwhip effect. You’ll analyse the drivers and results of these concepts and learn how the bullwhip effect can help you reduce the impacts it can cause throughout your supply chain.

Identify the challenges of Vendor Managed Inventory and Efficient Consumer Response

You’ll also explore Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR).

You’ll explore the challenges of using them in-depth and learn how to develop a customer-orientated approach to your supply chain.

By the end of the course, you’ll be confident in inventory management techniques and how to apply them to your supply chain to deliver the best outcomes.

Syllabus

Week 1
Inventory management
- Welcome to Short Course 3
  Welcome to a new week in this international logistics module.
- Introduction to inventory
  Here, we define the role of inventory in logistics. We'll also look at why inventory is kept and the costs associated with this.
- Principles of inventory management
  In this activity, we'll examine two key issues related to inventory management -- the trade-offs associated with high and low levels of inventories, and how companies analyse their inventory.
- A summary of the week
  A chance for you to reflect on your learning this week.
Week 2
Economic Ordering
- Welcome back
  Welcome to a new week of International Logistics.
- Economic Order Quantity
  In this activity, we’ll explore how to determine an Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) – a way of calculating an optimal order size as part of inventory management by considering ordering and holding inventory costs.
- Review systems and the Bullwhip Effect
  In this activity, we explore two review systems used in inventory – Fixed Order Quantity (FOQ) and Fixed Order Cycle (FOC). We’ll also consider the Bullwhip Effect and how this can cause problems along the supply chain.
- VMI and ECR
  In this activity, we introduce you to the concepts of Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) and Efficient Consumer Response (ECR), and how these can be applied to improve the performance of a supply chain.
- Test your understanding
  In this activity, you will put into practice and test your understanding of the concepts covered over this short course.
- Summary of the week
  A chance for you to review and reflect on your learning.

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Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Assess the necessity of the inventory and its analysis
Explore the classification of inventories
Identify the concept and the method of determining the economic order quantity
Recognise the bullwhip effect, its drivers and results in the supply chain

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for practitioners looking to develop their understanding of international logistics and its concepts.

This course from Coventry University is part of the International Logistics ExpertTrack, exploring the importance of international logistics from a strategic perspective.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured gold in the UK Government’s 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and is University of the Year for Student Experience in The Times & The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019.

Established
1992
Location
Coventry

About this ExpertTrack

Explore the importance of international logistics and develop your understanding of logistics management at a strategic level.

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