SCM220

Logistics & Transportation

Compare transport modes, choose warehouse locations, plan warehouse capacity, and evaluate last-mile service. Each chapter includes a worked example and questions to try yourself.

  • 4 chapters
  • ~26 min of reading
  • 12 learning objectives
  • 12 practice questions

Course overview

The course runs to 4 chapters and about 26 minutes of reading. Every chapter is self-contained: read it in one sitting, work the example on paper, then check yourself against the practice solutions before moving on.

The learning path below shows how the chapters build on one another, and each chapter card lists what you should be able to do once you have finished it.

How each chapter works

  1. Objectives — what you should be able to do afterwards.
  2. Reading — short sections that build the idea in plain language.
  3. Worked example — a full problem solved step by step.
  4. Practice — questions with solutions you can expand once you have tried them.
  5. Takeaway — the one sentence worth remembering.

Learning path

Chapters build on each other. This is the arc from first principles to the end of the course.

  1. Transportation Modes and the Cost-Service Trade-off

    Mode choice is a landed-cost and service decision, not a freight-rate decision; the inventory carrying cost in transit often flips the choice that a freight-only comparison would suggest.

  2. Network Design and Warehouse Siting

    Warehouse siting is a balance between transportation cost, inventory pooling, and customer service, and the square-root law gives a defensible starting point for the optimal number of facilities as the customer base grows.

  3. Warehouse Operations and Slotting

    A warehouse is four functions with different cost drivers; sizing it correctly means understanding the peak day and slotting to the velocity profile, with the bulk of the savings living in picking.

  4. Last-Mile Service, Routing, and Performance

    Last-mile is structurally expensive because of low utilization and uneven density, and the right operating model is the one that matches the order profile and density of each segment, often using more than one model in parallel.

Chapters (4)

Open any chapter to see its objectives, reading, worked example, and practice questions.

  1. Chapter 1: Transportation Modes and the Cost-Service Trade-off

    • Compare the cost, speed, and reliability of the major transport modes
    • Compute landed cost including freight, fuel, accessorials, and inventory carry
    • Choose a mode by value, weight, and required transit time

    3 sections · ~6 min read · 3 practice questions

  2. Chapter 2: Network Design and Warehouse Siting

    • Estimate the optimal number of warehouses for a given customer base using a square-root law
    • Compute transportation cost savings from adding a warehouse
    • Recognize the trade-offs between inventory pooling and customer proximity

    3 sections · ~7 min read · 3 practice questions

  3. Chapter 3: Warehouse Operations and Slotting

    • Compute a simple warehouse cost per order and cost per line
    • Apply an ABC slotting approach to reduce travel time
    • Use order profile data to size receiving and shipping capacity

    3 sections · ~7 min read · 3 practice questions

  4. Chapter 4: Last-Mile Service, Routing, and Performance

    • Explain why last-mile is expensive in absolute and relative terms
    • Estimate route time, route cost, and cost per stop from a sequenced route, and identify what actually drives cost per stop
    • Choose a last-mile operating model that fits demand density and service promise

    3 sections · ~6 min read · 3 practice questions