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Supply Chain Logistics

4.7(15,000) on Coursera·320K enrolled
Beginner 21 hours English University Certificate
SkillsSupply chainLogisticsTransportationInventory managementWarehousingOperations

Is this course right for you?

Our take
A practical, accessible grounding in the operational side of logistics, taught by Rutgers. It is free to audit.

Good for: beginners who want a practical grounding in logistics and supply-chain operations.

Skip if: you already work in logistics, or you want a quantitative, analytical course.

Rudolf Leuschner's specialization covers procurement and supplier relationships, demand forecasting and inventory, transportation and network design, warehousing, and supply-chain risk, applied to real scenarios across retail, manufacturing and healthcare. It draws on Rutgers' research and industry partnerships.

It is an operational introduction rather than a quantitative, analytics-heavy course, so if you want the modelling and optimisation side, look to a more technical programme instead, and someone already working in logistics will find it basic. The certificate needs a paid Coursera subscription; the free audit covers the learning, and the principles are durable and still relevant.

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About this course

This Rutgers Business School specialization covers supply chain management comprehensively: procurement and supplier relationships, demand forecasting and inventory optimization, transportation and logistics network design, warehouse management, and supply chain risk and resilience.

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Instructor

RL
Rudolf Leuschner
Coursera instructor
320K+ learners4 courses4.7 instructor rating

Taught by Rutgers Business School faculty with supply chain research expertise and industry experience at Fortune 500 companies.

Frequently asked questions

It is the first course in Rutgers' five-part Supply Chain Management specialization, which continues through operations, planning, and sourcing before a strategy capstone. You can take this logistics course on its own for the transportation-and-warehousing fundamentals, but if you want a rounded grounding in supply chain, the full sequence is designed to build on it course by course.

The three building blocks of a logistics network: transportation, warehousing, and inventory. You learn to weigh the advantages and drawbacks of different transport modes, understand how warehouse facilities are designed, and put together logistics networks that minimise cost while still delivering good customer service. It is the practical backbone of how goods actually move, framed so it applies across industries rather than one narrow sector.

It sits in between — concept-and-framework led, with real business examples, rather than a hands-on software tutorial. You come away understanding the trade-offs and the reasoning behind logistics decisions, which you then apply to your own context. It is not a course that trains you on a specific tool or system; it builds the judgement and vocabulary that underpin those tools.

Yes. It is explicitly introductory and assumes no prior background in logistics or supply chain, making it a sensible entry point for someone new to the field or moving into an operations role. The concepts build gradually, so you do not need business experience to follow it — just an interest in how products get from supplier to customer efficiently.

Yes, you can audit it on Coursera and watch all the lectures at no cost. The graded assignments and the certificate require a subscription, with financial aid available if you apply through Coursera. If you want the logistics concepts and the worked examples rather than a formal credential, auditing gives you the substance of the course without paying.
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