International Competition: “The Fresh Connection”

February 28, 2012 · Filed Under Prices

For the third year running, AEB (International) Ltd is gold sponsor of The Fresh Connection, an innovative, international, internet-based supply chain management competition designed to test best industry practice and provide logistics strategy training. The Fresh Connection Kick-off is in March 2012. Its simulated business environment incorporates industry experiences, supply chain theory, a wealth of data KPIs, changing business dynamics and financial factors. The Fresh Connection is also being run in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, USA, Canada, South Africa and Australia, and the International finals will take place on 14th September 2012 in Barcelona.

The competition is a simulation aimed at increasing knowledge of supply chain strategies. It demonstrates the impact of working as a team across the whole of the supply chain and the benefits this has on company performance. Kicking off in March 2012, competing teams have to improve the financial figures of a fictitious fruit juice producer called “The Fresh Connection”, turn the company around and maximise return on investment. Each team member plays the role of a Director – for Operations, Purchasing, Supply Chain and Sales – and takes strategic and tactical decisions to improve performance and ROI. Participants are expected to spend a few hours a week over seven weekly rounds.

Many top companies have already signed up for this year’s competition. Peter Surtees, Director of European Supply Chain at Kimberly-Clark said: “We sell in Europe and we source from across the globe, so this is an excellent platform for learning the importance of collaboration across the extended supply chain.”

In the UK, The Fresh Connection is organised by SCALA Consulting, a Supply Chain and Logistics Consultancy based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. New competition features for 2012 are:

·Sustainability – managing the carbon footprint of the business
·Capacity Constraints – introducing the role of the “critical customer” to the value chain

Link
www.thefreshconnection.co.uk/en/home.aspx
www.scalagroup.co.uk