Supply Chain interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your background + your path into supply chain.
2. Tell me about a supply chain project you've owned end-to-end.
3. Why industrial supply chain vs consulting, finance, or consumer / retail supply chain?
4. Why supply chain specifically vs operations, engineering, finance, or commercial roles?
5. Why the firm?
6. What's your read on our product portfolio and plant footprint?
7. Tell me what you understand about our supply chain organization and recent strategic moves.
8. Walk me through how you'd run or improve an S&OP cycle for a multi-plant business.

Technical concepts to master

• S&OP + demand planning fundamentals

  S&OP vs IBP · Statistical forecast methods · MAPE + bias + FVA · MRP / MPS / BOM · Manufacturing modes

• Supplier strategy + should-cost

  Dual-source vs single-source vs sole-source · Should-cost analysis · RFQ + RFP + RFI discipline · Supplier qualification - PPAP / FAI · PPV + VAVE + supplier development

• Inventory + working capital mechanics

  Safety stock formula · EOQ + lot-sizing · DOS + DSI + CCC · Lean inventory levers - kanban / VMI / JIT · Slow-mover + obsolescence management

• Supply continuity + risk + trade

  Tier-N mapping + transparency · Geopolitical + concentration risk · Tariffs + trade - Section 301 + USMCA + CBAM · Nearshoring / reshoring / friend-shoring · Scope-3 + supplier sustainability

Practical drills

• You manage a category with $50M annual COGS, current DOS of 60 days, target service level 98%. Lead time averages 6 weeks with 1-week std deviation. Weekly demand averages $1M with $200K std deviation. Recalibrate safety stock + project working capital release if you move target service to 97% + reduce lead-time variability to 0.5 weeks via supplier-development. Show your numbers.
• A $2B industrial OEM with 6 plants runs a poorly-functioning S&OP - demand review skipped most months, supply review focused on weekly fire-fighting, no executive S&OP, plant managers sandbag the supply plan. MAPE running 35% at family level, OTIF stuck at 88%, inventory 75 DOS. CSCO asks you to redesign. Walk me through your approach and 12-month roadmap.
• Your company sources $80M of machined components and electronic sub-assemblies from China, with 12-week ocean transit + 6-week supplier lead time. Recent tariff increase to 25% on Section 301 list adds $20M COGS. CSCO asks whether to nearshore to Mexico, dual-source US, or stay + absorb. Walk me through how you'd structure the decision and what additional data you'd need.

Smart-question anchors

• Supply chain org - centralized vs plant-led, CSCO presence + reporting line, central vs plant talent paths
• S&OP / IBP maturity - cadence, executive S&OP teeth, tooling roadmap (Kinaxis / o9 / enterprise ERP IBP)
• Supplier strategy + recent moves - nearshoring, dual-source program, supplier consolidation, supplier-development
• Working capital + inventory targets - DOS / DSI / CCC trajectory, recent cash-out programs
• Cost-out + productivity culture - VAVE program maturity, annual productivity target, PPV governance

Sourced from

APICS / ASCM CPIM + CSCP body of knowledge · Gartner Supply Chain research + Magic Quadrant for S&OP + IBP tools · CSCMP State of Logistics + Industry Week + Supply Chain Dive trade press · AIAG (Automotive Industry Action Group) PPAP + APQP standards · Resilinc + Everstream Analytics + Interos Tier-N supply chain risk references