9 Free Logistics Courses to Optimize Supply Chain Operations

Whether you’re aiming to elevate your career or seeking innovative strategies to improve your supply chain operations, these online supply chain and logistics courses provide the knowledge and inspiration you need. Embrace this opportunity to think big and transform your professional journey through the power of online learning.

An Introduction to Data-Driven Supply Chain Resilience Management

RWTH Aachen University via Coursera

In an environment where disruption is the norm, and globalization, off-shoring, and just-in-time logistics have created vulnerable supply chains, it’s more important than ever to fortify logistics operations and put strategies into place to foster resilience. In this course, you will gain an understanding of theoretical and practical supply chain resilience measures to prepare your business for future disruptions. The course also delves into leading-edge data-driven, and AI-based concepts for supply chain resilience management. 

Issues in Supply Chain Management

Illinois University via Coursera

Are you encountering unexpected issues in supply chain management? Who isn’t these days? Issues are par for the course, but they don’t have to be disruptive if you have the right strategies in place to adapt. When you deal with perishable goods in your supply chains, adapting quickly becomes even more important to prevent potential losses. In this course, you will examine global trade agreements — including policies, barriers, and regulations — of agricultural commodities, and discuss the implications of world and economic disruptions on the food supply chain. You will also discuss the important issues of sustainability, technology, and the environment as they relate to the supply and distribution of food products.

Supply Chain Logistics

Rutgers University via Coursera

With over a quarter-million registrants to date, this wildly popular introductory course on Supply Chain Logistics will take you on an enlightening journey through the essential components of global trade, covering key topics that include transportation, warehousing, and inventory management. By the end of this course, you will be able to differentiate between various transportation modes, understand the design and setup of efficient warehousing facilities, and develop cost-effective logistics networks that ensure excellent customer service. Perfect for beginners, this course requires no prior logistics experience, though a basic understanding of business principles will be helpful.

Sustainable Urban Freight Transport: A Global Perspective

Delft University of Technology via edX

This 5-week online course explores the inner workings of city logistics as instructors share their real-world experience and case studies from the private industry and the public sector. If you’re interested in increasing your skills and knowledge about urban logistics and transport systems while networking with like-minded professional peers, you’re sure to benefit from this course.

Supply Chain Fundamentals

Massachusetts Institute of Technology via edX

Have you ever dreamed of studying at a prestigious school like MIT? Here’s your chance to learn from some of the top teachers in the country – for free! Whether you’re just getting started in the supply chain industry and want a strong foundation of the basics or you’re an experienced professional looking to further your skills, the Supply Chain Fundamentals course will be a great investment of your time. The instructors share actionable, practical tools that can be put to use to boost performance and reduce the total cost of a supply chain. The course also covers mathematical models that can be used to illustrate the underlying concepts involved in both intra- and inter-company logistics operations.

Supply Chain Analytics

Rutgers University via Coursera

As the old adage goes, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” By reviewing real-life case studies, you’ll learn how to assess the impact of various strategies at every point in the supply chain. You’ll gain actionable insights that you can use to improve your business, lower costs, boost productivity, and deliver a better overall customer experience. You’ll learn about what key data you need to gather and analyze in order to better understand your supply chain business and uncover areas of key growth opportunity.

Inventory Management

University of California, Irvine via Coursera

Looking for ways to reduce spending while growing profits? By managing inventory effectively, you can keep costs low and still maximize profitability. In this course, you will discover strategies based on data science to manage inventory in uncertain environments, ways set inventory levels based on customer service requirements, and tried-and-true formulas for calculating inventory for products that have short sales cycles.

Retail Digital Supply Chain

University of Pennsylvania via Coursera

As a logistics service provider, retailers are likely to be some of your biggest customers. Your success depends on their success. So, it’s important to understand how their business works in order to support their success and keep those important customers satisfied. In this course, you will discover the main challenges and opportunities that impact modern retail supply chains. From supply chain fundamentals to the impact of digital transformation and the importance of analytics, you will learn what it takes to successfully navigate and contribute to the digitized retail supply chains of today.

Supply Chain Optimization

University of California, Irvine via Coursera

Looking to take your supply chain operations to the next level while mitigating the many risks that impact logistics today? It’s time to optimize. In this course, you will delve into the components of optimization and learn how to set up an optimization problem in Excel. We will also practice capacity and resource optimization, exploring examples of both in the supply chain. You will also learn how to use a Monte Carlo simulation to make the least risky decision in uncertain supply chain situations.