FREE CPIM Study Guide 2026: All 9 Areas

This free CPIM study guide walks through everything the ASCM Certified in Planning and Inventory Management exam tests, organized to ASCM’s current CPIM 9.0 Exam Content Manual.^[1]

It’s interactive, not a wall of text: every content area has built-in checkpoint quizzes, flashcards, and practice questions, so you learn by doing — not just reading.

The CPIM is the internal planning & inventory credential from ASCM (formerly APICS). It covers production and inventory management within the four walls of the organization — distinct from the CSCP, which spans the end-to-end external supply chain from suppliers to customers.^[4]

The current exam (version 9.0) tests nine official content areas, each carrying a published weight — Inventory (14%) is the single heaviest, but the nine areas are close enough that there is no module you can safely skip.^[1]

We teach one module per content area (after a short Foundations module). Read a module, test yourself at each checkpoint, then drill gaps with our free practice test and flashcards.

CPIM Exam Snapshot

The nine areas are unusually even in weight, so study breadth matters. Inventory (14%) is the heaviest, and five areas tie at 12% — Strategy, Demand, Internal Supply, and Detailed Schedules. There is no single dominant module to lean on, so plan to cover all nine:

Foundations · Manufacturing Planning & Control

Before the nine content areas, get the big picture straight — because every CPIM question assumes you understand how the firm’s plans cascade from strategy down to the shop floor, and where a customer’s order plugs into that flow. This short module is the scaffolding the rest of the guide hangs on.

What CPIM covers & how it differs from CSCP

CPIM is about manufacturing planning and control — the integrated set of activities that plans and controls production and inventory: S&OP, master scheduling, MRP, capacity planning, and production activity control.^[1] Its defining feature is scope: CPIM lives inside the four walls of the organization. That is exactly what separates it from the CSCP, which spans the whole external chain from the supplier’s supplier to the customer’s customer.

The planning hierarchy & the decoupling point

Manufacturing plans form a hierarchy: each level disaggregates the one above it, adding detail and shortening the horizon. The business plan sets direction; S&OP balances demand and supply at the family level; the master production schedule commits specific end items; MRP plans components; and production activity control runs the floor. Capacity feedback flows back up — that is what makes it a closed loop.^[1]

Where the decoupling point sits — the place where forecast-driven (push) activity meets order-driven (pull) activity — defines the firm’s manufacturing environment. A make-to-stock plant decouples at finished goods (shortest delivery, most inventory); an engineer-to-order shop decouples at design (longest lead time, least inventory). Moving the point upstream cuts inventory but lengthens delivery.

I · Align the Supply Chain to Strategy (12%)

12% of the exam. Operations exists to support how the firm chooses to compete. This area covers business and operational strategy, the value chain, make-or-buy decisions, key performance indicators, risk, and sustainability.

1.1 Strategy, order winners & competitive priorities

A firm picks its competitive priorities — cost, quality, delivery, and flexibility — to match its market.Order qualifiers are the minimum traits a product needs just to be considered; order winners are what actually win the order.^[1]

This matters because the chosen winners dictate where the supply chain must excel — if delivery speed wins, the plant is built for responsiveness; if cost wins, for efficiency. The make-or-buy decision follows the same logic: keep a core competency in-house and outsource the rest, judging on total cost, capacity, and strategic risk — not unit price alone.

1.2 SCOR, KPIs, risk & sustainability

To describe and improve operations, ASCM uses the SCOR model — six processes: Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return, and Enable.^[1] Performance is tracked with KPIs that balance financial and operational views — the cash-to-cash cycle time (how long cash is tied up), inventory turnover, on-time delivery, and a balanced scorecard. The area also covers identifying and mitigating supply chain risk and building sustainability (the people-planet-profit triple bottom line) into operations decisions.

II · Conduct Sales & Operations Planning (10%)

10% of the exam. S&OPis the monthly, cross-functional process that reconciles demand and supply at the product-family level and ties them to the business plan. This area covers the S&OP process and the aggregate plan it produces.

2.1 The S&OP process & the production plan

sales and operations planning sits between the strategic business plan above and the master production schedule below.^[1] It runs on a monthly cadence over a 3-to-18-month horizon, working at the aggregate product-family level (not individual SKUs) so leadership can balance demand against capacity, inventory, and finance — and commit to one number. Its output is the production plan, which the master scheduler later disaggregates into specific end items.

2.2 Aggregate planning: level, chase & hybrid

Once demand is set, operations builds the aggregate plan using one of three strategies. A level strategy holds production constant and absorbs demand swings with inventory — low capacity-change cost, high carrying cost. A chase strategy varies output each period to match demand — low inventory, high capacity-change cost. A hybrid strategy blends both for the lowest total cost.^[1]

III · Plan & Manage Demand (12%)

12% of the exam. This area is about understanding demand, predicting it, and grading the forecast. It covers the sources of demand, forecasting methods, and how to measure forecast accuracy and bias.

3.1 Sources of demand & forecasting methods

The first distinction is between independent demand — demand for an item not derived from any other (a finished good or a spare part), which must be forecast — and dependent demand, demand for a component calculated from its parent through the bill of materials, which MRP plans.^[1] Only independent demand is forecast. There are two families of forecasting method:

3.2 Forecast accuracy, bias & the bullwhip effect

Every forecast is wrong — the question is by how much, and in which direction. Measure the size of error with Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) and watch the tracking signal for bias (a consistent tendency to over- or under-forecast).

The tracking signal is the cumulative forecast error divided by the MAD; if it drifts outside its control limits (commonly ±4), the method is systematically off.^[1] Forecasts are also more accurate at an aggregate (family) level than at the SKU level, because individual item variations partly offset.

The classic demand pathology is the bullwhip effect: small swings in end-customer demand amplify into ever-larger order swings upstream, causing alternating excess inventory and stockouts. Its causes are demand-signal processing, order batching, price fluctuation (forward buying), and rationing/shortage gaming — and sharing real demand data dampens it.

IV · Plan & Manage Internal Supply (12%)

12% of the exam — the heart of CPIM. This area is the engine room: turning the production plan into a master schedule, exploding it through MRP, and checking that capacity can actually deliver it. Expect calculations here.

4.1 Master scheduling, ATP/CTP & time fences

The master production schedule (MPS) states what specific end items to build, in what quantity, and when — it disaggregates the production plan and is the single most important input to MRP.^[1] From the MPS the system computes available-to-promise (ATP): the uncommitted portion of supply sales can still promise without changing the schedule.

capable-to-promise (CTP) goes further, checking whether material and capacity could be obtained to make more. Time fences control how the schedule can change — firm inside the demand fence, open outside the planning fence.

4.2 MRP — the record, BOM & lead-time offset

material requirements planning needs three inputs: the master production schedule, the bill of materials, and the inventory records.^[1] It explodes the MPS through the BOM, then nets each item period by period: net requirements = gross requirements − scheduled receipts − prior projected available balance (plus safety stock). Each net requirement becomes a planned order receipt, which is then offset back by the lead time to a planned order release.

4.3 Capacity planning: RCCP vs CRP

A schedule is worthless if the plant can’t make it. rough-cut capacity planning (RCCP) is a quick, approximate check that the master schedule is feasible against a few critical (bottleneck) resources, using a bill of resources — it does not net inventory.

capacity requirements planning (CRP) is detailed: it uses MRP planned and released orders, routings, and work-center data to compute the load on every work center.^[1] available capacity = available time × utilization × efficiency.

V · Plan & Manage External Supply (11%)

11% of the exam. New as its own area in CPIM 9.0, this covers what the firm buys from outside: supplier selection, supplier relationship management, total cost of ownership, and the procure-to-pay process.

5.1 Make-or-buy, supplier selection & SRM

External supply begins with the make-or-buy decision and the choice of supply base structure (single vs. multiple sourcing). Suppliers are then evaluated on weighted criteria — cost, quality, delivery, capability, and financial stability.^[1]

supplier relationship management (SRM) segments suppliers so investment matches their value and risk: strategic partnersget joint improvement and long-term collaboration, while transactional suppliers are managed efficiently at arm’s length. vendor-managed inventory (VMI) and EDI tighten the link to key suppliers.

5.2 Total cost of ownership & procurement

Suppliers are chosen on total cost of ownership (TCO), not lowest unit price — the full life-cycle cost of acquiring, owning, and using the item (acquisition, logistics, quality, downtime, and end-of-life).^[1] A cheap offshore quote can carry a high TCO once freight, duties, and quality risk are counted. The procure-to-pay process then runs through purchase orders (standard, blanket, contract) and the controls that protect against overpayment before accounts payable releases cash.

VI · Plan & Manage Inventory (14%)

The single heaviest area — 14% of the exam. Inventory decouples operations and buffers variability at the cost of capital, space, and obsolescence. This area covers inventory types and costs, the core ordering formulas, and how to control it. Earn the most points here.

6.1 Inventory types, functions & costs

Inventory takes several forms by why it exists: cycle stock (the result of ordering in batches), safety stock (a buffer against variability), pipeline inventory (goods in transit), and anticipation stock (built ahead of a known peak).^[1] Holding it isn’t free: carrying cost is dominated by the cost of capital, plus storage, insurance, and obsolescence. The job is to hold just enough to give service without tying up cash.

6.2 EOQ, reorder point & safety stock

Order the right amount with the economic order quantity (EOQ) — the size that minimizes total ordering plus carrying cost. Because the total-cost curve is U-shaped, the EOQ sits where annual ordering cost equals annual carrying cost. Order at the right time using the reorder point (ROP) = expected demand during the lead time + safety stock, and compare the inventory position (on-hand + on-order − backorders), not just on-hand, against it so pipeline orders aren’t double-counted.^[1]

6.3 ABC analysis, cycle counting & control

You can’t control every item equally, so focus effort with ABC analysis: rank items by annual dollar usage (annual demand × unit cost). About 20% of items (A) drive ~80% of the value — the Pareto principle — and get tight control; the many low-value C items get loose control.^[1] Maintain record accuracy with cycle counting (counting a rotating portion continuously) rather than one annual physical count, and watch inventory turnover.

VII · Plan, Manage & Execute Detailed Schedules (12%)

12% of the exam. This area takes the plan to the shop floor: scheduling around the constraint, pacing the line to demand, sequencing jobs, and controlling work in process. Several calculations live here too.

7.1 Theory of constraints & drum-buffer-rope

The theory of constraints (TOC) holds that a system’s output is governed by its single bottleneck, so the way to raise throughput is to manage the constraint — not to chase local efficiencies.^[1] Its five focusing steps are identify → exploit → subordinate → elevate → repeat.

drum-buffer-rope schedules to the constraint: the drum sets the pace, a time buffer protects it, and the rope ties material release to its rate. Improving a fast, non-bottleneck machine just piles up work-in-process.

7.2 Takt, line balancing & scheduling rules

takt time is the rhythm each unit must be completed to exactly meet demand: available production time ÷ demand. A process’s cycle time must be at or below takt to keep up.^[1]

line balancing assigns tasks to stations so each is close to takt, respecting task precedence. Jobs waiting at a machine are sequenced by priority rules — shortest processing time, earliest due date, or least slack per remaining operation.

7.3 Production activity control & I/O control

production activity control (PAC) executes and controls shop orders through priority control (a frequently regenerated dispatch list that says what to run next) and capacity control (input/output control). The I/O report compares planned vs. actual input and output at a work center to reveal a building queue or a capacity problem early.^[1] little's law links it all: work-in-process = throughput rate × flow time, so cutting flow time or throughput cuts WIP.

VIII · Plan & Manage Distribution (8%)

8% of the exam — the smallest area, but quick to learn. This covers planning replenishment across a distribution network and the network-design trade-offs behind it.

8.1 Distribution requirements planning (DRP)

distribution requirements planning (DRP) borrows time-phased MRP logic and applies it to the distribution network.^[1] Each location’s forecast demand and lead time produce planned order releases, and those releases are summed by time period up the network to become the gross requirements at the central source facility. Because it is time-phased and forward-looking, DRP anticipates network needs rather than reacting at a reorder point.

8.2 Network design & risk pooling

Network design balances a cost objective against a service requirement — more distribution centers improve delivery service but raise total inventory and facility cost.^[1] The key principle is risk pooling: centralizing or aggregating inventory reduces total safety stock, because demand variability across regions partly cancels out. The same logic underlies postponement — pool risk by customizing late.

IX · Manage Quality, CI & Technology (9%)

9% of the exam. The final area covers quality management, continuous improvement (lean and Six Sigma), and the technology that runs modern operations.

9.1 Quality, SPC & the cost of quality

statistical process control (SPC) uses control charts to separate common-cause variation (inherent, random) from special-cause variation (an identifiable event). You act on special causes — signaled by a point beyond the control limits or a run of points on one side of the center line — and leave common-cause variation alone unless you redesign the process.^[1] The cost of quality frames the trade-off: spending on prevention and appraisal drives down far costlier internal and external failure costs.

9.2 Lean, Six Sigma/DMAIC & technology

Lean maximizes customer value while eliminating waste; JIT and kanban pull production only as needed, and value stream mapping (VSM) exposes where waste hides.^[1] Six Sigma reduces variation toward 3.4 defects per million using the DMAIC cycle — Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control — where Improve deliberately follows Analyze so changes target a verified root cause. Technology — ERP, MRP II, and newer tools (AI, IoT, automation) — integrates the data that all of this planning runs on.

How to Use This CPIM Study Guide

This guide is built to be worked, not just read. The most efficient path to a pass:

• Get the hierarchy first. The Foundations module is short but high-leverage — the planning hierarchy and the decoupling point frame every question.
• Master the calculation areas. Internal Supply (MRP, ATP, capacity), Inventory (EOQ, ROP, safety stock), Demand (smoothing, MAD), and Detailed Schedules (takt) carry the math — drill until it’s automatic.
• Study by weight, but don’t skip. Inventory (14%) is heaviest and five areas tie at 12%, so the nine areas are close — there’s no module you can safely ignore.
• Check off as you go. Use the Study Guide Contents to mark each section done; it raises your exam-readiness score.
• Take every checkpoint. The end-of-module quizzes show you exactly which areas need another pass.
• Drill the weak area. Send it into the flashcards and a practice test until the score climbs.

CPIM Glossary

The high-yield CPIM terms in one place — hover any dotted term in the guide, or flip the whole deck here as a self-grading flashcard set.

ABC analysis

Classifying items by annual dollar usage (annual demand × unit cost) into A (few, high value, tight control), B, and C (many, low value, loose control) tiers — the Pareto principle.

Aggregate planning

Planning production, inventory, and workforce levels at the product-family level over the medium term, balancing demand against capacity and cost.

ASCM

The Association for Supply Chain Management (formerly APICS) — the body that owns and administers the CPIM, CSCP, and CLTD credentials.

Assemble-to-order

ATO — holding common modules and assembling to a customer order, postponing differentiation to manage product variety.

Available capacity

Available time × utilization × efficiency — the capacity a work center can actually deliver.

Available-to-promise

ATP — the uncommitted portion of on-hand inventory and master-scheduled supply that sales can still promise to new customer orders without changing the schedule.

Bill of materials

BOM — the structured list of all components, subassemblies, and quantities needed to build a parent item; multilevel BOMs nest parents and components.

Bill of resources

The list of critical resources and the time each consumes per unit of a master-scheduled item; the input to rough-cut capacity planning.

Bottleneck

The resource with the least capacity relative to demand; it sets the throughput of the entire system.

Bullwhip effect

The amplification of demand variability as orders move upstream from the customer toward suppliers, causing excess inventory and stockouts.

Capable-to-promise

CTP — goes beyond ATP by checking whether material AND capacity could be obtained to make more product for a customer request.

Capacity requirements planning

CRP — detailed capacity planning that uses MRP planned and released orders, routings, and work-center data to compute the load on every work center.

Cash-to-cash cycle time

Days inventory outstanding + days sales outstanding − days payables outstanding — the time cash is tied up in operations. Lower (or negative) is better.

Chase strategy

An aggregate strategy that varies output each period (hiring, overtime, subcontracting) to match demand — low inventory, high capacity-change cost.

Common-cause variation

The inherent, random variation built into a stable process; leave it alone unless you redesign the process.

Competitive priorities

The dimensions on which operations competes — cost, quality, delivery (speed/reliability), and flexibility — chosen to support the business strategy.

Core competency

A capability that is valuable, rare, and hard to imitate, which a firm protects and keeps in-house rather than outsourcing.

Cost of quality

The total cost of achieving and failing to achieve quality: prevention and appraisal costs versus internal and external failure costs.

CPIM

Certified in Planning and Inventory Management — ASCM's (formerly APICS) credential covering internal production and inventory planning: S&OP, master scheduling, MRP, capacity, inventory, and detailed scheduling.

CSCP

Certified Supply Chain Professional — ASCM's credential covering the end-to-end external supply chain from suppliers to customers (broader than the internally-focused CPIM).

Cycle counting

Continuously counting a rotating portion of inventory to maintain record accuracy, rather than relying on a single annual physical count.

Cycle stock

The portion of inventory that varies with the order quantity, consumed between replenishments; halved on average, it averages Q/2.

Cycle time

How long a process actually takes to complete one unit; must be at or below takt time to keep up with demand.

Decoupling point

The customer-order point in the flow where the chain switches from forecast-driven (push) to order-driven (pull) — finished goods for MTS, design for ETO.

Demand management

Recognizing and managing all sources of demand — forecasting, order entry, and prioritization — so planning reflects them.

Dependent demand

Demand for a component that is calculated from the demand for its parent through the bill of materials; planned by MRP, not forecast.

Dispatch list

A frequently regenerated, prioritized list of jobs waiting at a work center, telling the floor what to run next.

Distribution requirements planning

DRP — applies time-phased MRP logic to a distribution network, planning replenishment from regional warehouses back to central supply.

DMAIC

The Six Sigma improvement cycle: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.

Drum-buffer-rope

A TOC scheduling method: the constraint (drum) sets the pace, a time buffer protects it, and the rope ties material release to the constraint's rate.

Economic order quantity

EOQ — the order size that minimizes total annual ordering plus carrying cost; equals the square root of (2 × annual demand × ordering cost ÷ unit carrying cost).

EDI

Electronic Data Interchange — the computer-to-computer exchange of standardized business documents (e.g., purchase orders) between trading partners.

Engineer-to-order

ETO — designing and building to a unique customer order; longest lead time, lowest inventory, fully custom.

Enterprise resource planning

ERP — integrated software unifying finance, operations, and supply chain data on a single shared database across the business.

Exponential smoothing

A time-series forecast that weights recent demand more heavily using a smoothing constant (alpha): new forecast = old forecast + alpha × (actual − old forecast).

Forecast

A prediction of future demand from historical data, market intelligence, and judgment; the basis for independent-demand planning.

Forecast bias

A consistent tendency to over- or under-forecast, signaled by a tracking signal that drifts steadily away from zero.

Gross requirements

The total demand for an item in a period before any on-hand or on-order inventory is netted out.

Hybrid strategy

An aggregate strategy that blends level and chase to minimize total cost by balancing carrying cost against capacity-change cost.

Independent demand

Demand for an item not derived from any other item — it must be forecast (e.g., a finished good or a service spare part).

Input/output control

An I/O report comparing planned vs. actual input and output at a work center to reveal building queues or capacity problems early.

Inventory position

On-hand inventory + on-order − backorders; the correct quantity to compare against the reorder point so pipeline orders aren't double-ordered.

Inventory turnover

Cost of goods sold ÷ average inventory; how many times stock is used and replaced. Higher (within reason) means leaner inventory.

Just-in-time

JIT — producing or receiving items only as needed, in the quantity needed, to minimize inventory.

Kanban

A visual signal that authorizes production or replenishment in a pull system; the number of cards caps work-in-process.

Lead-time offset

Scheduling a planned order release earlier than the need date by the item's lead time.

Lean

A philosophy of maximizing customer value while systematically eliminating waste to improve flow, quality, and cost.

Level strategy

An aggregate strategy that holds production and workforce constant and absorbs demand swings with inventory — low capacity-change cost, high carrying cost.

Line balancing

Assigning tasks to workstations so each station's work content is close to the takt time, respecting task precedence and minimizing idle time.

Little's law

Work-in-process = throughput rate × flow (cycle) time — relating WIP, throughput, and the time a unit spends in the system.

MAD

Mean Absolute Deviation — the average absolute difference between forecast and actual demand; measures the size of forecast error.

Make-or-buy decision

Choosing whether to produce a component in-house or purchase it externally, judged on total cost, capability, capacity, control, and strategic risk — not unit price alone.

Make-to-order

MTO — producing only after a customer order is received from raw materials/components; low finished-goods inventory, longer lead time.

Make-to-stock

MTS — producing to forecast and holding finished goods for immediate fulfillment; shortest delivery, highest finished-goods inventory.

Manufacturing planning and control

MPC — the integrated set of activities that plans and controls production: S&OP, master scheduling, MRP, capacity planning, and production activity control.

Master production schedule

MPS — a time-phased plan of what specific end items to build, in what quantity, and when; it disaggregates the production plan and drives MRP.

Material requirements planning

MRP — planning logic that explodes the MPS through the bill of materials, nets against inventory, and offsets by lead time to schedule component orders.

Moving average

A time-series forecast averaging demand over a fixed number of recent periods; more periods smooth more but respond slower.

MRP II

Manufacturing Resource Planning — extends MRP with capacity, financial, and business planning across the whole operation.

Net requirements

Gross requirements − scheduled receipts − projected available balance (plus any safety stock); what must actually be ordered.

Order qualifiers

The minimum characteristics a product must have just to be considered by a customer — the price of entry to compete.

Order winners

The characteristics that actually cause a customer to choose one product over the qualified alternatives; they dictate where the supply chain must excel.

Pareto principle

The 80/20 rule — a small share of items (about 20%) accounts for most (about 80%) of the value; the basis of ABC analysis.

Pipeline inventory

In-transit inventory that exists only because goods are physically moving between two points in the network.

Planned order release

A planned order offset back from its need date by the item's lead time, so it arrives when needed.

Postponement

Delaying final product differentiation until demand is known, pooling risk and cutting finished-goods inventory and obsolescence.

Production activity control

PAC — executing and controlling shop orders on the floor through priority (sequencing) and capacity (input/output) control.

Production plan

The aggregate output of S&OP — planned production by product family — sitting between the strategic business plan above and the master production schedule below.

Qualitative forecasting

Judgment-based forecasting used when little data exists — Delphi method, market research, and expert panels.

Quantitative forecasting

Data-driven forecasting using history — time-series (moving average, exponential smoothing) and causal/regression models.

Reorder point

ROP — the inventory level that triggers a replenishment order: expected demand during the lead time plus safety stock.

Risk pooling

Centralizing or aggregating inventory so that demand variability across locations partly offsets, reducing the total safety stock needed for a given service level.

Rough-cut capacity planning

RCCP — a quick, approximate check that the master production schedule is feasible against a few critical (bottleneck) resources, using a bill of resources; it does not net inventory.

Safety stock

Buffer inventory held to protect against variability in demand and lead time, preventing stockouts during the replenishment period.

Sales and operations planning

S&OP — a monthly, cross-functional process that balances aggregate demand and supply at the product-family level over a 3–18-month horizon and ties them to the business plan.

SCOR model

The Supply Chain Operations Reference model — ASCM's framework of six processes: Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, Return, and Enable.

Six Sigma

A data-driven improvement method to reduce variation and defects toward 3.4 defects per million opportunities; its cycle is DMAIC.

Special-cause variation

Variation from an identifiable external event; signaled by a point beyond control limits or a run of points on one side, and worth investigating.

Statistical process control

SPC — using control charts to distinguish common-cause (random, inherent) from special-cause (assignable) variation so you act only on real signals.

Supplier relationship management

SRM — assessing, segmenting, and developing suppliers to maximize the long-term value the firm captures from its supply base.

Takt time

Available production time divided by customer demand for that time — the rhythm each unit must be completed to exactly meet demand.

Theory of constraints

TOC — a philosophy that maximizes system throughput by managing the single bottleneck (constraint) that governs the output of the whole system.

Throughput

In TOC, the rate at which the system generates money through sales — revenue minus truly variable cost; not raw output.

Time fence

A boundary in the master schedule that controls how changes can be made — inside the demand time fence the schedule is firmed; outside the planning time fence it is fully open.

Total cost of ownership

TCO — the full cost of acquiring, owning, and using a purchased item across its life cycle (acquisition, logistics, quality, usage, end-of-life), not just unit price.

Tracking signal

The running (cumulative) sum of forecast errors divided by the MAD; it detects forecast bias when it drifts past control limits (commonly ±4).

Value chain

The full set of value-adding activities a firm performs to bring a product from inputs to end use (Porter): inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing & sales, and service.

Value stream mapping

VSM — a lean tool that maps material and information flow to expose waste; process (value-added) efficiency = value-added time ÷ total lead time.

Vendor-managed inventory

VMI — the supplier monitors and replenishes the customer's stock based on shared on-hand and usage data.

CPIM Study Guide FAQ

References

1. 1.ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management). “APICS CPIM 9.0 Exam Content Manual (ECM), effective June 1, 2026.” ascm.org. ↑
2. 2.ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management). “APICS Certified in Planning and Inventory Management (CPIM).” ascm.org. ↑
3. 3.ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management). “CPIM 9.0 Transition FAQs (ATT, retake, scoring).” ascm.org. ↑
4. 4.ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management). “APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) — scope vs. CPIM.” ascm.org. ↑
5. 5.ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management). “Certification Maintenance Handbook (CPIM/CFPIM/CSCP/CLTD).” ascm.org. ↑

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