What you'll learn:
- Define supply chain strategies and understand how your company’s competitive position determines supply chain design
- Distinguish efficient vs responsive (effective) supply chains and select the right model for your business context
- Calculate inventory metrics: cash-to-cash cycle time, asset metrics, and inventory throughput
- Analyse distribution strategies — direct shipping, retail storage, last-mile delivery — for their cost, inventory, and response time trade-offs
- Calculate fill rate and cycle service level to measure and manage customer availability performance
- Calculate safety stock for different inventory setups and service level targets
- Apply Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) and replenishment policies to plan your distribution network
- Practice distribution and transportation calculations on real supply chain cases in Excel
- Plan and design a complete distribution system for a supply chain network in Excel
- Connect inventory investment decisions to the broader distribution strategy through service level and fill rate analysis
SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY · DISTRIBUTION PLANNING · INVENTORY MANAGEMENT · DRP · FILL RATE · SAFETY STOCK · EXCEL
★ from the Highest-performing supply chain courses on Udemy for Business- Professionals love it!
This course is consistently selected by companies, universities, and institutions for corporate supply chain training — because it combines strategic theory with quantified, Excel-based practice in a way that translates directly to better planning decisions.
Every distribution system is a strategic choice. Do you ship directly to customers, hold stock at regional warehouses, or rely on retail storage? Each decision carries a different cost, a different service level, and a different level of responsiveness to demand. Most supply chain professionals inherit their distribution system rather than design it. This course changes that.
Starting from strategy — how your company’s competitive position (efficient or responsive) should determine your supply chain design — the course builds progressively to the quantitative tools that make distribution planning real: calculating fill rate, cycle service level, inventory throughput, cash-to-cash cycle time, safety stock, and DRP schedules — all in Excel, on real supply chain distribution cases.
This is the course Haytham’s supply chain consulting clients asked him to build. It is his highest-performing course on Udemy for Business — selected by companies and institutions because it is the only course that connects business strategy to distribution system design in a fully quantified, analytically rigorous way, with Excel practice on every concept. Whether you are designing a distribution network from scratch, auditing an existing one, or studying supply chain management, this course gives you the framework and the numbers.
WHAT MAKES THIS COURSE DIFFERENT
[ STRAT ]
Theory grounded in real strategy
This course bridges the gap most supply chain courses leave open — connecting your company’s competitive strategy (efficient vs responsive) directly to how you design your inventory and distribution system.
[ CALC ]
Analytical, not just conceptual
Fill rate, cycle service level, cash-to-cash, safety stock, DRP calculations — every concept in this course is quantified and practised in Excel on real distribution cases. You leave with models you can run on your own data.
[ EXAM ]
Two quizzes and a full practical exam
Unlike most supply chain theory courses, this one tests your ability to actually plan and design a distribution system — with a graded practical exam and detailed solutions.
TOOLS COVERED IN THIS COURSE
Microsoft Excel | Excel Distribution Models | Excel DRP Spreadsheets
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
✓ Define supply chain strategies and understand how your company’s competitive position determines supply chain design
✓ Distinguish efficient vs responsive (effective) supply chains and select the right model for your business context
✓ Calculate inventory metrics: cash-to-cash cycle time, asset metrics, and inventory throughput
✓ Analyse distribution strategies — direct shipping, retail storage, last-mile delivery — for their cost, inventory, and response time trade-offs
✓ Calculate fill rate and cycle service level to measure and manage customer availability performance
✓ Calculate safety stock for different inventory setups and service level targets
✓ Apply Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) and replenishment policies to plan your distribution network
✓ Practise distribution and transportation calculations on real supply chain cases in Excel
✓ Plan and design a complete distribution system for a supply chain network in Excel
✓ Connect inventory investment decisions to the broader distribution strategy through service level and fill rate analysis
COURSE CONTENT — 6 MODULES
MODULE 1
Supply chain strategy and competitive design
Before designing a distribution system you need to understand why companies design supply chains the way they do. Explore how business strategy — cost leadership vs differentiation — translates into supply chain design choices. Understand what separates an efficient supply chain from a responsive one, when each is appropriate, and how the wrong choice leads to structural cost or service problems that no amount of operational improvement can fix.
Frameworks Discussion
MODULE 2
Inventory metrics and financial measures
Supply chain decisions are balance sheet decisions. Learn to calculate and interpret the key inventory and asset metrics that connect distribution planning to financial performance: cash-to-cash cycle time, inventory turnover, days of supply, asset utilisation, and inventory throughput. Practise these calculations on real cases in Excel.
Excel
MODULE 3
Distribution strategies and their impact on cost and service
Every distribution strategy — direct shipping, retail storage, distribution centre, last-mile delivery — makes a different trade-off between transportation cost, inventory holding cost, and response time to the customer. Analyse each strategy in detail, quantify the trade-offs, and understand how to match the right distribution model to the right product type and demand pattern.
Excel Calculations
MODULE 4
Fill rate, cycle service level, and inventory throughput
Service level is not a feeling — it is a number. Learn to calculate fill rate (the fraction of demand met from stock) and cycle service level (the probability of no stockout per replenishment cycle) for different inventory setups. Understand how these metrics connect to the distribution strategy choice and how to design your system to hit a target service level.
Excel
MODULE 5
Safety stock calculation for different inventory setups
Safety stock is the buffer between your forecast and reality. Learn how to calculate the right amount of safety stock for different demand variability levels, lead time variability scenarios, and service level targets. Practise on real distribution cases with multiple inventory configurations and understand the cost implications of each approach.
Excel
MODULE 6
Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) and full system design
Bring everything together. Learn DRP — the planning technique that translates end-customer demand upstream through the distribution network to generate replenishment schedules at every echelon. Apply replenishment policies. Then design a complete distribution system for a real supply chain network in Excel — the practical exam that tests your ability to apply every concept from the course.
Excel DRP Practical Exam
THIS COURSE IS NOT FOR YOU IF...
✗ You are looking for a software or ERP implementation guide — this course builds analytical frameworks and Excel models, not system configuration skills
✗ You want a procurement or sourcing course — this course covers the distribution side of supply chain; procurement planning is covered in a separate course in this series
✗ You need warehouse operations or WMS training — this course focuses on the strategic and quantitative planning of distribution networks, not physical warehouse management
✗ You want a purely theoretical course without calculations — every concept in this course is quantified and practised in Excel on real data
WHAT STUDENTS AND CLIENTS SAY
“It’s incredible to see what is possible with Python in terms of supply chain planning and optimization. Haytham is doing a great job as a trainer — starting with explanation of basics and ending with presentation of advanced techniques supply chain managers can apply in real life.”
Larsen Block — Director, Supply Chain Management — Freudenberg Home & Cleaning Solutions
“Haytham mentored me in my role of Head of Supply Chain Efficiency. He is extremely knowledgeable about supply chain concepts, latest trends, and benchmarks in the supply chain world. His analytics-driven approach was very helpful to recommend and implement significant changes to our supply chain.”
Senior Leader — Head of Supply Chain Efficiency — Aster Group
“I participated in the Supply Chain Forecasting & Management training conducted by Haytham. It helped me enormously in my daily work. Haytham has the pedagogy to explain very difficult calculations and formulas in a simple way. I highly recommend this training.”
Verified student — Supply Chain Forecasting & Management Masterclass, UAE
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR:
Supply chain managers and directors
You are responsible for the overall supply chain design and want a structured framework to align your distribution network with your company’s competitive strategy — not just manage day-to-day operations.
Distribution and logistics planners
You plan replenishment and distribution runs but want to understand the analytical foundations: how to calculate fill rate, DRP schedules, safety stock, and service levels with precision.
Inventory and operations managers
You manage stock levels and want to connect inventory decisions (safety stock, cycle stock, throughput) to the broader distribution strategy — and understand the cost-service trade-offs involved.
Supply chain analysts and consultants
You advise on supply chain design and want a rigorous, calculation-based course that covers both the strategic frameworks and the quantitative tools used in real distribution planning.
MBA and business students
This course is a top performer on Udemy for Business. If you are studying supply chain, operations, or strategy and need a course that connects business strategy to operational planning in a quantified, practical way, this is it.
Procurement and supply planning professionals
You work upstream in the supply chain and want to understand how downstream distribution strategy — what gets stocked where and how it gets replenished — affects your planning decisions.
REQUIREMENTS
● Comfortable using Microsoft Excel — basic formulas and functions. No advanced Excel knowledge is required.
● Basic familiarity with supply chain concepts is helpful — you should know what a supply chain is and have some exposure to inventory or distribution work.
● No programming or coding knowledge is required at any point in this course — all analysis is done in Excel.
● No advanced statistics or mathematics required — the quantitative methods in this course are taught step by step with full worked examples.
WHAT IS INCLUDED
● 6 modules covering the complete supply chain strategy and distribution planning framework
● Excel workbooks and distribution planning templates for every quantitative module — reusable on your own real cases
● 2 knowledge quizzes to test understanding and consolidate learning after key sections
● 1 full practical exam: plan and design a complete distribution system for a supply chain network in Excel, with a detailed solution provided
● Real supply chain distribution cases throughout — not synthetic or textbook data
● Lifetime access to all content and any future curriculum updates
● 30-day money-back guarantee — no questions asked
● Certificate of completion upon finishing the course
YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Haytham Omar, Ph.D.
Supply Chain & Business Intelligence Consultant · Developer · Trainer — UAE & France
Haytham is a practising supply chain and business intelligence consultant working with multinational clients including Sephora France, Sharaf Group, and Aster Pharmacy. He has trained over 70,000 supply chain and planning professionals across 70+ workshops in the UAE. He holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science in Global Supply Chain Management from Bordeaux École de Management.
This course grew directly from Haytham’s consulting practice. The frameworks for efficient vs responsive supply chains, the distribution strategy analysis, and the DRP planning models are all tools he uses with clients — not textbook constructs. Every Excel model in this course has been used to solve real distribution planning problems.
This is Haytham’s highest-performing course on Udemy for Business — chosen by companies and institutions for supply chain team training because of its practical, analytically rigorous approach to strategy and distribution planning.
Stop managing supply chains by intuition. Start designing them by strategy.
6 modules · Excel practice · 2 quizzes · Practical exam · Real distribution cases · Lifetime access
