Imagine your breakfast shop suddenly faces flour shortages, milk price hikes, and doubled rent. This scenario perfectly illustrates supply chain vulnerability—when one link fails, the entire chain suffers. The year 2021 served as a global "stress test" for supply chains, with material shortages, port congestion, and soaring freight costs causing widespread business disruptions. Against this backdrop, a supply chain professional distilled years of 996 work hours into a practical handbook: Supply Chain Management from Beginner to Expert .
Bridging Theory and Practice
Published by China Railway Publishing House, this book connects academic concepts with real-world applications. The author began writing during the 2021 Spring Festival, completing the manuscript in five months. More than just theoretical knowledge, the work represents a crystallization of practical experience—marking the author's evolution from content creator to systematic knowledge architect.
The book's structure builds upon the author's 2019 online course Automotive Manufacturing Supply Chain and Logistics Management , enhanced by insights from nearly 300 public articles written over three years. It combines China's domestic supply chain realities with international best practices to create industry-agnostic solutions.
The Practical Approach
What sets this guide apart is its pragmatic orientation. Written from a practitioner's perspective, it explains core modules—planning, orders, procurement, warehousing, and logistics—using accessible language while maintaining operational feasibility and logical coherence. Despite time constraints and personal limitations, the author considers this an important first iteration for future refinement.
The writing process proved physically and mentally demanding. Prolonged desk work caused recurring neck, back, and finger joint discomfort. Yet the author maintains that knowledge sharing outweighs personal gain. Since beginning to write in 2016, each article has served as both work review and knowledge organization. While previous content remained fragmented, this book weaves discrete concepts into a coherent framework for cognitive advancement.
Continuous Learning Through Writing
The author considers writing the most efficient learning method. To sustain consistent output, they continuously studied methodologies from Valeo Group, APICS's CSCP certification system, and SCOR-P models—all now integral to their knowledge architecture. Beyond supply chain expertise, they expanded into no-code development, PowerPoint design, and public speaking to enhance comprehensive skills, embracing "lifelong learning and continuous writing" as professional tenets.
Structure and Content
The book follows supply chain workflows through actual business scenarios with practical guidance. It opens by defining supply chain management before illustrating principles through a breakfast shop case study—demonstrating how supply chains permeate daily life.
Subsequent chapters analyze:
- Order management as demand triggers for supply chain operations
- Transportation modes and their cost-efficiency tradeoffs
- Receiving processes where "the devil hides in details"
- Modern warehousing evolving from storage to value-added services
- Delivery management focusing on commitment fulfillment
- Reverse logistics as potential profit centers linked to sustainability
- Performance metrics across three evaluation dimensions
- Team development addressing talent management and career paths
The conclusion returns to supply chain education, incorporating the author's growth reflections for reader inspiration.
Target Audience
This resource serves multiple reader groups:
- Supply chain newcomers establishing proper methodologies
- Career changers and students compensating for experience gaps
- Third-party logistics professionals deepening client understanding
- Non-specialist managers facilitating cross-department communication
Acknowledging supply chain knowledge's vast scope, the author presents core concepts while encouraging readers to grasp underlying logic for flexible application. Future editions may address omitted topics to tackle increasingly complex supply chain challenges.
Ultimately, Supply Chain Management from Beginner to Expert transcends textbook classification—it's a practical toolkit, industry reflection, and professional aspiration that empowers readers to better understand, navigate, and advance within supply chain ecosystems.