Supply Chain Game at Sonepar, the Power of Collaboration

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.

The Supply Chain Game is an initiative of Slimstock. As an expert in the field of inventory optimisation, Slimstock helps organisations to improve their inventory processes to harness the potential of collaboration and optimise inventory across the entire chain. Through playing the game, employees at every level in the organisation gain insight into how their decisions impact the wider supply chain.

Sonepar worldwide has been working with Slimstock since 2014 to optimise inventory processes within the organisation. With Slim4, there is a continuous focus on finding the perfect balance between the stock value and service to customers. The statistical sales patterns are continuously monitored for each product in the range. In this way, trends and seasonal patterns are automatically recognised and the Supply Chain teams across different OPCOs of the Sonepar group can quickly respond to potential stock issues.

Our thanks go out to all the people that were involved, for their enthusiasm and commitment, and special thanks to Andy Seet, Head of Operations Transformation, SEA, who made this event possible.

For more information about the Supply Chain Game and other entertaining workshops for companies, institutions or universities, contact Erik de Witte directly at [email protected]