Supply Chain & Production Planning
Concept & Motivation
Supply chains are the circulatory system of any product-based business. When they work, nobody notices. When they break, everyone does.
Yet most planning still happens in spreadsheets, ERP default settings, and experience-based rules of thumb. The quantitative methods that could transform planning accuracy — demand forecasting, optimization-based scheduling, multi-echelon inventory management — exist in textbooks and specialist software but rarely reach the planners who need them.
This intensive course closes that gap. You learn the methods, apply them to realistic datasets, and understand how they relate to the ERP systems you already use.
What You’ll Learn
- Demand forecasting — time series methods (moving average, exponential smoothing, ARIMA), causal models, and ML-enhanced forecasting. How to measure forecast accuracy and manage forecast error
- Master Production Scheduling (MPS) — translating demand forecasts into feasible production plans. Capacity constraints, lead times, and prioritization
- Material Requirements Planning (MRP) — the logic, the assumptions, and the limitations. Why MRP nervousness happens and how to dampen it
- Lot sizing — EOQ, Wagner-Whitin, and practical heuristics. When mathematical optimality matters and when it doesn’t
- Inventory management — safety stock calculation, service level targeting, multi-echelon inventory optimization. The cost of too much vs. too little
- Advanced Planning Systems (APS) — what they promise, how they work, and where they fall short. Evaluating APS vendors critically
- Network design and planning under uncertainty — facility location, supplier selection, robust optimization, and scenario-based stress testing
Who This Is For
- Production planners and schedulers who want to move beyond spreadsheet-based planning
- Supply chain managers responsible for inventory, procurement, and logistics coordination
- Operations directors evaluating APS investments or ERP planning module upgrades
- Logistics coordinators optimizing distribution networks, routing, and warehouse allocation
Participants should be comfortable with numbers and planning concepts. Prior optimization training (c-opt-1) is helpful but not required.
Format & Duration
3-day intensive (on-site). Day 1: demand forecasting and MPS. Day 2: MRP, lot sizing, and inventory management. Day 3: APS evaluation, network design, and planning under uncertainty. Can be split into 2 + 1 days with applied homework between sessions.
What Makes This Course Different
Most supply chain training either stays at the strategic overview level (frameworks and buzzwords) or dives into software-specific training (click here, configure there). This course teaches the methods — the mathematics and logic underneath the systems — so you understand what your tools are doing and can make better decisions regardless of which software you use.
The course integrates hands-on exercises using our Aipokit platform (digital twin for production planning) and MoTo (maintenance scheduling) to show how planning and maintenance interact in practice — because in real operations, production plans don’t exist in isolation.