Free CSCP Exam Flashcards

A supply chain is the network that moves product and information from raw material to end customer. A value chain focuses on the activities that add customer value, including support functions, not just flow.

Push produces to forecast (anticipation). Pull produces to actual demand (reduces inventory but needs short lead times). Push-pull pushes to a decoupling point, then pulls (e.g., assemble-to-order).

Demand variability amplifies upstream as it moves from customer to supplier. Causes: demand signal processing, order batching, price fluctuation, and rationing/shortage gaming. Information sharing reduces it.

Qualitative (Delphi, market research, expert judgment) suits new products or no history. Quantitative (time series, causal/regression) requires historical data and assumes the past predicts the future.

MAD and MAPE measure forecast error magnitude. Bias (tracking signal) detects a persistent over- or under-forecast. A forecast can be accurate on average yet biased if errors consistently lean one way.

A monthly cross-functional process that balances demand and supply at the aggregate (volume) level and aligns the operational plan with the business plan. It works on product families, not individual SKUs.

A trading-partner process where buyer and seller jointly create one shared demand forecast and replenishment plan, reducing the bullwhip effect through synchronized data instead of independent forecasts.

Independent demand (finished goods) is forecast from the market. Dependent demand (components) is calculated from the schedule for the parent item via MRP, so it is computed, not forecast.

Facility location, number, and capacity balance responsiveness against cost. Centralization lowers inventory and overhead; decentralization improves service and lowers outbound transport and lead time.

Keeping product generic as long as possible and customizing late (often at a distribution center). It cuts finished-goods inventory and forecast risk by pooling demand before differentiation.

The decision to produce internally or outsource, based on total cost, core competency, capacity, control, and risk. Outsourcing non-core activities frees capital but adds supplier dependency.

Offshoring moves operations to a distant low-cost country. Nearshoring moves them closer to the home market for shorter lead times. Reshoring brings them back home, often for risk or total-cost reasons.

Beyond unit price, TCO includes freight, duties, inventory carrying, quality, lead-time risk, and currency exposure. A lower offshore unit price can have a higher landed TCO than a local source.

A designated area where goods can be imported, stored, or processed with duties deferred, reduced, or eliminated until they enter the domestic market, improving cash flow and global network cost.

A structured approach: analyze spend, develop sourcing strategy, assess the supply market, select suppliers, negotiate, and manage performance. It treats sourcing as continuous, not a one-time purchase.

Segments purchases by profit impact and supply risk into four quadrants: leverage, strategic, non-critical (routine), and bottleneck. Each quadrant gets a different sourcing strategy and relationship type.

Single sourcing chooses one supplier among several (by choice). Sole sourcing means only one supplier exists (no choice). Multiple sourcing spreads volume across suppliers to reduce supply risk.

RFI gathers general supplier capability information. RFP requests proposed solutions and is evaluated on more than price. RFQ requests firm pricing for well-defined requirements, decided largely on price.

Supplier relationship management uses scorecards (quality, delivery, cost, service) to evaluate and develop suppliers. Strategic suppliers warrant collaborative development; transactional ones are managed on metrics.

Purchase price is only the visible cost. TCO adds acquisition, ownership (quality, downtime, carrying), and post-ownership (disposal) costs. The lowest price is rarely the lowest total cost.

The order quantity that minimizes the sum of ordering cost and carrying cost. At the EOQ, annual ordering cost equals annual carrying cost. It assumes steady demand and constant costs.

ROP = (average daily demand x lead time) + safety stock. It is the inventory level that triggers a replenishment order so stock arrives before a stockout under normal demand and lead time.

Buffer inventory held to absorb variability in demand and lead time and to protect the target service level. Higher demand/lead-time variability or higher service targets require more safety stock.

Classifies items by annual dollar usage: A items (~80% of value, tight control), B items (moderate), C items (many items, low value, loose control). Focuses management effort where value concentrates.

Turns = cost of goods sold / average inventory; higher turns mean leaner inventory. Days of supply = average inventory / average daily usage. They are inverse views of the same efficiency.

Explodes the master schedule through the bill of material to calculate dependent-demand component requirements, netting against on-hand and scheduled receipts, then time-phasing planned orders by lead time.

Lean eliminates non-value-adding waste (DOWNTIME: Defects, Overproduction, Waiting, Non-utilized talent, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Extra-processing). Overproduction is often the most damaging waste.

Kanban is a signal that authorizes producing or moving only what is consumed (pull). Takt time = available time / customer demand; it sets the pace production must match to meet demand without overproducing.

System throughput is limited by its bottleneck. The five focusing steps: identify, exploit, subordinate to, elevate the constraint, then repeat. Improving a non-constraint does not increase throughput.

Design capacity is the theoretical max. Effective capacity accounts for product mix, maintenance, and breaks. Utilization = actual output / design capacity; efficiency = actual / effective capacity.

Air is fastest and most costly; ocean is cheapest for high volume but slowest; rail suits heavy bulk over land; truck offers door-to-door flexibility. Mode choice balances speed, cost, and reliability.

Inbound goods are unloaded and moved directly to outbound transport with little or no storage. It cuts inventory and handling but requires tight coordination and accurate, synchronized flows.

Standardized international trade terms (e.g., EXW, FOB, CIF, DDP) that define where risk and cost transfer between buyer and seller. They do not transfer title; they assign delivery, cost, and risk points.

FOB: risk transfers to the buyer once goods are on board the vessel at origin. DDP: the seller bears all cost and risk, including import duties, until delivery at the buyer's destination.

The flow of goods from customer back upstream for returns, repair, remanufacture, recycling, or disposal. It is harder to forecast than forward flow and is central to the circular economy.

A 3PL executes logistics services (warehousing, transport). A 4PL is an integrator that manages and orchestrates multiple 3PLs and the broader supply chain, typically asset-light and strategic.

Relationships range from transactional (arm's length, price-driven) to collaborative partnerships and strategic alliances. Deeper relationships fit high-value, high-risk items, not commodities.

The supplier monitors and replenishes the customer's inventory based on shared consumption data. It reduces the customer's stockouts and ordering effort and dampens the bullwhip effect.

Aligns supply chain capabilities with segmented customer needs and service levels. Not all customers warrant the same service; profitability and strategic value drive differentiated service policies.

Effective partnerships require shared goals, transparent information, and aligned incentives. Misaligned metrics (e.g., rewarding only purchase price) create conflict and undermine total supply chain performance.

A documented commitment defining performance metrics (fill rate, on-time delivery, lead time), measurement method, and remedies. It turns relationship expectations into measurable, enforceable terms.

Risks include supply, demand, operational/process, and external/environmental (natural disaster, geopolitical, regulatory). Identification must span the extended network, not just tier-1 suppliers.

Risks are prioritized by likelihood and severity, often on a risk matrix. High-impact, high-likelihood risks demand mitigation; low/low risks may be accepted. This focuses limited resources.

Avoid (eliminate the activity), mitigate (reduce probability/impact), transfer (insurance, contracts), or accept. Dual sourcing and safety stock are mitigation; insurance is transfer.

A business continuity plan restores operations after a disruption. Resilience is the designed-in ability to absorb and adapt to disruption (redundancy, flexibility, visibility) so impact is smaller to begin with.

A disruption at a hidden lower-tier supplier can halt production even if tier-1 looks healthy. Mapping multi-tier dependencies and single points of failure is essential to managing supply risk.

A standard process reference framework: Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return, and Enable. It provides common process definitions and metrics for benchmarking and improving supply chain performance.

Evaluating performance on three dimensions: people (social), planet (environmental), and profit (economic). Sustainable supply chains optimize all three rather than cost alone.

Designs out waste by reusing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, and recycling so materials re-enter the chain. It depends on effective reverse logistics, contrasting the linear take-make-dispose model.

ERP integrates internal functions on shared data. EDI standardizes inter-company transaction exchange. Control-tower visibility and analytics turn shared data into faster, better supply chain decisions.