The world’s #1 business game in
Value Chain Management
Experience the power of a well-articulated supply chain strategy
The world’s #1 business game in
Value Chain Management
Experience the power of a well-articulated supply chain strategy
Discover The Fresh Connection
The Fresh Connection is an innovative web-based business simulation game that engages participants in operating a virtual company. The juice manufacturing company's performance has been declining. In teams of 4, participants must get the company back on track as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Each team member will represent a specific role: VP Purchasing, VP Operations, VP Supply Chain, and VP Sales. They need to align and bring their supply chain management into action to win! Participants will be confronted with diverse real-life, real-time dilemmas, and cross-functional understanding and collaboration are the key success components.
This business simulation game is the core of 10 learning solutions covering multiple supply chain management topics!
Learning objectives
The Fresh Connection is a versatile learning experience that can be adapted to meet the learning objectives required by higher education institutions and for in-company training. This business simulation game covers 10 learning solutions, each focusing on specific topics in supply chain management with specific learning objectives.
Some of the key learning objectives are:
- Build internal or external teams
- Understand the importance and relevance of a company and supply chain strategy
- Translate strategy into action
- Learn to ‘speak the same language’ with other value chain partners, internally or externally
- Experience the power of a professional and well-structured Sales & Operations Planning process
- Supply Chain Risk Management
- Appreciate cross-functional trade-offs in the value chain
- Learn how to manage risks in the supply chain in a coordinated way
- Learn how to manage and optimize the carbon footprint of the supply chain
- Experience the power of a well-designed set of KPI’s
Testimonials
“Playing The Fresh Connection enabled us to provide students hands-on experience with not only quantitative aspects in supply chain management but also the soft skills such as team dynamics and dealing with conflicts of interest.”
Prof. dr. Ir. Sander de Leeuw Associate professor of Logistics at VU University Amsterdam“The Fresh Connection was a challenging test of decision making, commercial awareness and learning agility that requires each individual to understand the impact of their role and actions on the profitability of the whole business.”
Adam Lockwood Supply Development Manager at Mars UKTrusted by
One business game, multiple learning solutions
The Fresh Connection is also referred to as the Ultimate Value Chain Experience. This business simulation game covers various topics related to Supply Chain Management. Below you’ll find all the different learning solutions tailored to specific learning objectives.
Game setup
Participants get to run their own virtual company called The Fresh Connection, a manufacturer of fruit juices. Faced with declining performance, the management team must get the company back on track as quickly as possible. It is a high-pressure environment in which effective supply chain management is the key to success!
Every decision a participant makes has trade-offs, both within and across roles. Alignment of all the disciplines and the implementation of an effective supply chain strategy will be key to success. Winning will be about generating the best Return on Investment (ROI) for the business while still managing your own team’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and targets!
Teams will experience the impact of every decision they make,
not just in their own functional ‘silo’ but across their business, and the entire value chain!
not just in their own functional ‘silo’ but across their business, and the entire value chain!
VP Purchasing
Responsible for selecting the right suppliers and agreeing service-level agreements (SLAs) with suppliers.
VP operations
Must decide on capacity in warehouses and production areas and approve investment in bottling lines and mixers.
VP Supply Chain
Manages inventories (safety stock and lot size settings), production intervals and the frozen period of production.
VP Sales
Agrees SLAs with customers, manages the product and customer portfolio, forecasts demand and can introduce collaboration concepts.
User interface
The Fresh Connection’s simulation software has been designed to be easy to use for everyone, on any platform from PC to tablet. There is no need to read a hefty manual before starting. All help information is integrated in the game-screens and can be read on a need to know basis.
Customize your experience!
The Fresh Connection can be easily tailored to match your learning objectives.
COMPLEXITY LEVEL
Tailored to perfectly fit your level and learning objectives no matter your background or experience.
DELIVERY FORMATS
Face-to-face, Online or Hybrid.
NUMBER OF ROUNDS
They can be varied to suit your needs.
The Concept of Learning by doing
A Complex world requires experiential learning
A high-performing value chain requires collaboration from across the organization. Tearing down silos and creating the right cross-functional mindset can be a serious challenge.
How do you prepare for success? Ideally, you’d like to experiment with different scenarios wherein people learn to overcome various obstacles. This is where we come in: through our business simulation games, participants have the unique opportunity to learn by experience by immediately putting complex theories into practice.
Advantages of experiential learning:
- Highly Engaging
- Constant & immediate feedback
- Higher Learning Retention Rate
- Ability to apply theory to practice
- Real-world experience minus the risk
- Promotion of teamwork and soft skills
- Cost-effective
Why is The Fresh Connection different?
For a subject as vital as Value Chain Management, it is not enough to tell people how it works. They must experience it! The Fresh Connection is a different way of learning that puts participants at the heart of a lifelike simulation so they can experience the impact of every decision they make, not just in their own ‘silo’ but across the business.
By team experience, participants measure their performance and receive constant feedback from the certified trainer leading the business game. Between rounds, participants reflect on their decisions and the outcome. They are introduced to new concepts and then go back to put what they have learned into practice in the next round. It is this ‘Magic Circle’ that makes The Fresh Connection so powerful.
Participants who have experienced The Fresh Connection find it is not only highly effective but has a lasting impact. Delivering long-term benefits based on business best practices makes The Fresh Connection the Ultimate Learning Experience.
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