Last month, Slimstock hosted a special Supply Chain Game session at the headquarters of KVC Industrial Supplies in Kuala Lumpur. Bringing together participants from 4 different Sonepar OPCO’s (KVC, Sun Power, SWE and DEP) from across South East Asia, over 40 people took part in the interactive workshop. The Supply Chain Game was organised to highlight the importance of transparency and collaboration within the supply chain. By playing the online game together, all of the participants gained a greater understanding of how even minor decisions have an impact on every other link in the supply chain.
The employees were invited to join one of the nine competition teams with each chain representing a ‘led light bulb’ production line. Starting from the manufacturer right through to the retailer, each team member represented a link in the chain.
The goal of the game is to satisfy customer demand at the lowest cost. In the first round, no communication was allowed and each link played in isolation. As a consequence, the inventory costs and backorder costs were therefore much higher for most of the teams in the first round.
In the second round, participants were allowed to discuss and determine a strategy together. As Joanne Yew, VP supply chain management at KVC highlighted: “If you do not inform each other and you do not know the customer’s demand, it is very difficult to anticipate what you should order as an intermediary.” In dynamic supply chains, trust and cooperation are necessary for a good joint result. In the end, the team with the lowest supply chain costs won the game.
Maximum concentration to get the highest output
