Top 3 Skills Supply Chain Management Graduates Need

Congratulations, you have earned it! You have graduated from your Supply Chain Management course! Whether it’s online, an undergraduate, or a post-graduate level program, you are now ready for the world of supply chain management. But are you sure you have the critical skills needed today?

If you are like 99.9% of us, the important question now is, how do you leverage your skills and chart a path forward for the best career success? The answer to this very valid question is to focus on the following 3 critical skills and develop them as early as you can in your career. If you master these skills, you will catapult yourself into a well-paying and very rewarding six-figure career. So, what skills are needed for supply chain management? Let's get into it.

The 3 critical skills to acquire quickly in your career are:

1. Master your understanding and execution of Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP)
2. Know your numbers, or better yet know your organization’s numbers
3. Become a data maven using Supply Chain Management Software

SKILL 1 – MASTERING UNDERSTANDING AND EXECUTION OF SALES AND OPERATION PLANNING (S&OP)

Supply chain management success is all about understanding what is needed, where, when, and in what quantities, and ensuring you have a system for marshaling resources that allow for this to happen as cost-effectively as possible.

With that definition and understanding, there is no better cross-functional tool than Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), for clearly understanding the product demand outlook over the next 12-18 months, and also understanding the corresponding supply capabilities across the same time frame.

There are many great resources that explain S&OP in-depth, including evolution into Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning (SI&OP) etc. But, the critical skill to develop and master, is the ability to process and understand customer demand, as well as work cross-functionally to develop supply plans and resolve gaps in the customer demand versus supply plan.

Anyone that masters and understands how to properly execute the organization’s S&OP process will be a valuable resource. They will be a key part in solving the organization’s fundamental question, how do I efficiently and effectively overcome obstacles to always meet my customer’s demand?

Related: Top 3 Online Courses Under $100 (Total) for Supply Chain Management Graduates

SKILL 2 – KNOW YOUR NUMBERS, OR BETTER YET KNOW YOUR ORGANIZATION’S FINANCIAL NUMBERS

In terms of importance for career success, we actually rank this as skill #1. We are supply chain professionals in a business, and the primary focus of all businesses is to responsibly generate a return for their shareholders.

The business has to deploy products to meet customer demand, and do so profitably. It’s the only way to ensure business survival. As the key point of contact with responsibility for moving and storage of products in the network in order to service demand, the supply chain professional has to know the following

1. What are the top revenue items?
2. Which items drive the most gross margin?
3. What are your per-unit costs to distribute via different modes for service-level flexibility?
4. What are your per-unit costs to move products from source markets using different modes for different lead-time options?
5. What are your competitors’ price points on similar items? Does it give you a clue as to their supply chain strategy? Is their strategy better than yours?

Knowing the answers to questions like these is paramount, as it allows you to make business-smart, bottom-line enhancing optimization decisions, given you are keenly aware of what is best for the organization financially at any given time.

Supply chain professionals do not operate in a vacuum, and cannot take a silo approach if they are looking for success. You need to understand and know what is important for business success and ultimately your success.

SKILL 3 – BECOME A DATA MAVEN USING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

This skill recommendation cannot be underscored enough. Supply chain management is a fast-paced, cross-functional, ever-changing landscape, with many moving parts, literally and figuratively. The only way to make sense of the entire supply chain is to crunch big data and present it graphically in easily digestible formats. This is important for internal departmental assessment and communication, as well as cross-functional communication and collaboration.

And, one of the current challenges, is that we are at the crossroads of legacy ERP systems and platforms with poor BI tools being replaced with no code / low code software and platforms. These new no code / low code platforms and tools allow for rapid data input and flexible manipulation as process change increases. The more you develop sharp skills in data synthesis, graphical presentation, as well as become proficient with the new platforms and tools for managing large enterprise data, the more valuable you will be to any organization.

Each organization may be different, but the common thread that every supply chain professional will encounter is to always stay on top of rapidly changing situations, and make effective trade-off decisions. If the supply chain professional does not have the tools, visibility, and understanding to react quickly in this environment, the supply chain will suffer and lose competitiveness, and the business will eventually suffer. Becoming a data maven is a critical skill. Develop it.

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT CAREER!

So you're now on your supply chain management journey. In our experience, we see the benefit of learning and applying these skills daily to your supply chain tasks.

Develop them as quickly as possible to propel you forward in your career. Good luck and have an exciting career!