APICS CPIM 

Contents & structure for Certified Production and Inventory Management

The APICS CPIM modules cover 22 evening classes divided into two parts. There are also opportunities to follow this route as a daytime course. During the last course session, a practice exam is discussed. Below is a brief description of the modules.

APICS CPIM Part 1: Basics of Supply Chain Management

What are the basics of supply chain management?

Basics of Supply Chain Management provides an overview of the organization's value streams for internal and external suppliers. Some of the topics covered are:

• Elements of the supply chain
• Inventory management strategies
• Total quality management
• Manufacturing resource planning
• Demand management
• Capacity management
• Purchasing and physical distribution
• Theory of constraints
• Inventory system design
• Master product schedule (MPS)
• Materials Requirement Planning (MRP)

APICS CPIM Part 2 consists of the following eight modules

Module 1: Strategy

Strategy covers the inputs, processes, and outputs of organizational strategy development and the alignment with operations strategy. Some of the topics in this module are:

• Developing the business strategy using analysis models for external and internal evaluation
• Process of conducting a competitive analysis as input for the competitive strategy
• Change management
• Sustainability and risk management
• Enterprise resource planning and inventory management

Module 2: Sales and Operations Planning

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is about tactical planning to determine what to produce and check the feasibility of the demand and the production plan. Some of the topics covered in this module are:

• Purpose of S&OP in achieving customer service and efficiency goals
• S&OP roles and process steps
• Aggregate demand, supply, and inventory management plans
• Reconciling S&OP plans across the functions involved

Module 3: Demand planning

Demand is about the processes of influencing and managing demand by using customer relations management (CRM) tools. The module covers the processes to fulfill demand, configure and produce products, and measure customer-focused performance. Some of the topics covered are:

• Demand management and its components
• Customer segmentation, customer communication, and customer service
• Marketing, product management, and product design impacts
• Sources and types of demand
• Forecasting techniques and forecasting performance

Module 4: Supply

Supply is about creating and maintaining a valid plan for producing products and components using master scheduling. Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) is the process of planning and maintaining the flow of materials from the production and external suppliers. This module will pay attention to product life cycle management and supply disruption. Some of the topics covered are:

• Creating and maintaining the master schedule
• Rough Cut Capacity Planning to plan for an achievable master schedule
• Creating and maintaining Materials Requirement Planning (MRP)
• Purchasing processes and supplier monitoring and evaluation
• Changes and supply disruptions in supply chains
• Product life cycle management
• Economic order quantity (EOQ) considerations

Module 5: Inventory management

Inventory is about classification as well as functions and cost of inventory. These are dependent methods of ordering and storage inventory. The module covers auditing inventory management accuracy and reverse logistics. Some of the topics covered are:

• Inventory planning by function
• Inventory management and use of safety stock
• Inventory system costs, value, and metrics
• Waste hierarchy and reverse logistics
• Warehouse management
• Inventory control

Module 6: Detailed schedules

Detailed schedules is about planning the flow of goods using MRP, Lean, and TOC-based scheduling focused on managing lead times and work in process. Detailed schedules use defined capacity to make optimal use of resources while achieving targeted customer service levels. The master production schedule is the basis for the detailed schedule Some of the topics in this module are:

• Planning detailed schedules by managing lead times and priority
• Scheduling and PAC methods for MRP, Lean, and TOC
• Production schedules by balancing the need for capacity and available capacity
• Using detailed production process schedules and measuring performance

Module 7: Distribution

Distribution is about managing the flow of goods towards the customer by using different distribution channels and storage locations connected by modes of transportation. Distribution requirements planning is used to inventory management levels. Some of the topics covered in this module are:

• Design, configuration, and planning of the distribution network
• Replenishment, order management, and distribution performance
• Reverse logistics in the distribution network

Module 8: Quality, Continuous Improvement, and Technology

This module covers different ways to look at quality from the perspective of goals, capability, tools, and required information and performance management systems, like LEAN and Six Sigma. Some of the topics covered are:

• Planning, control, and improvement of quality
• Continuous improvement tools and techniques
• Information technology and technology implementation