What Does a Supply Chain Trainee Do?

A supply chain trainee will help more senior staffers to evaluate the supply-chain needs or logistics for a business, where materials must move between various phases of the product life cycle. In most cases, these individuals will work directly under a more seasoned supply chain specialist. Many of these professionals are working toward a higher level career in supply chain management.

Much of the work for many supply chain trainee jobs involves analyzing supply and demand for company products, and how shipping solutions need to match that supply and demand ratio. Part of this is often called inventory flow, where supply chain trainees and more senior supply chain managers will evaluate quantities of inventory going from one place to another. These professionals make sure that the business operations are efficient and matched to the best outcomes. Inventory flow can be part of a greater analysis of the entire supply chain for the company.

Alternatively, a supply chain trainee may work on generating or streamlining effective solutions for outsourcing part of the company supply chain. Enterprises called third party logistics firms provide specialized services to help companies make their supply chain logistics more efficient. A supply chain trainee may pursue these type of agreements, including items like on-demand transportation, for matching the needs of a dynamic supply chain process.

In the course of his or her work, a supply chain manager may use sophisticated software tools, some of which are called decision support software resources. Decision support software helps in analyzing the supply chain of a large business, which may include massive amounts of data related to large inventories and far-ranging sets of office or warehouse locations. Trainees and top-level supply chain managers alike might also engage in predictive modeling or forecasting, where software is typically useful, and, in many cases, necessary.

Although they may work in corporate offices, supply chain trainees may engage in some field work, especially according to their junior status in a company. These individuals may work with different departments to determine then real inventory situations at different locations in a company’s region of operations. They may need to connect with many key staffers to do detailed research on the status of a supply chain, and how it can be improved for future operations.