MITx: Supply Chain Design course Syllabus
Full curriculum breakdown — modules, lessons, estimated time, and outcomes.
Overview: This course provides a rigorous foundation in supply chain network design, focusing on strategic decision-making, quantitative modeling, and real-world applications. Learners will explore how to optimize global supply chains for cost, service, and resilience. The curriculum spans five core modules and a final project, with a total time commitment of approximately 80–100 hours over 14–20 weeks. Each module combines conceptual frameworks with analytical techniques to build practical expertise in designing efficient and robust logistics networks.
Module 1: Foundations of Supply Chain Network Design
Estimated time: 20 hours
- Structure of global supply chain networks
- Roles of suppliers, production facilities, warehouses, and distribution centers
- Cost drivers and service-level considerations
- System-level thinking for network configuration
Module 2: Facility Location and Capacity Planning
Estimated time: 25 hours
- Quantitative models for facility location decisions
- Capacity constraints and investment trade-offs
- Fixed and variable cost structures
- Optimization techniques for network layout design
Module 3: Transportation and Flow Optimization
Estimated time: 25 hours
- Transportation modes and cost trade-offs
- Flow optimization and routing strategies
- Demand allocation across facilities
- Global logistics performance metrics
Module 4: Risk Management and Strategic Resilience
Estimated time: 20 hours
- Supply chain risk factors and disruptions
- Strategies for redundancy and flexibility
- Impact of uncertainty on network design
- Scenario analysis for strategic planning
Module 5: Trade-offs in Centralized vs. Decentralized Distribution
Estimated time: 15 hours
- Comparative analysis of centralized and decentralized systems
- Service-cost-risk trade-offs
- Case studies in supply chain redesign
Module 6: Final Project
Estimated time: 20 hours
- Design a global supply chain network for a real-world scenario
- Apply optimization models to facility and flow decisions
- Present strategic recommendations with risk and resilience considerations
Prerequisites
- Basic understanding of supply chain concepts
- Comfort with quantitative reasoning and modeling
- Familiarity with fundamental business operations
What You'll Be Able to Do After
- Analyze and design efficient global supply chain networks
- Apply quantitative models to facility location and capacity planning
- Optimize transportation flows and logistics performance
- Evaluate trade-offs between cost, service, and risk
- Develop resilient supply chain strategies using scenario planning