START DATE: 5TH MARCH, 2012 The Fresh Connection is an advanced web-based business simulation that challenges participants to work together as a team to demonstrate and improve their knowledge of the Value Chain. Commencing on 5th March 2012, your company is challenged to join the fi rst global competition of The Fresh Connection where simultaneously teams from around the world will have the task to save the fi ctional company, The Fresh Connection, from fi nancial ruin. The challenge: to collaborate with fellow team members, craft a strategy, integrate decisions, implement change, make effective strategic and tactical decisions, and to completely transform The Fresh Connection company so as to make it as profi table as possible.
“S&OP is all about communication and considering the implications for roles beyond your own. The Fresh Connection makes collaboration measurable.” Remco de Marie - EMEA Demand & Supply Management Director at the Canon Imaging Group
Increase Cross Functional knowledge and awareness
“Logistics is definitely an industry where effective cross-functional communication is crucial, but also important is a thorough understanding of the end-toend value chain. One of many great aspects of The Fresh Connection is its ability to present the importance of structured communication to its participants and demonstrate the cost of not communicating effectively.” Ali Leghaei, Chief Financial Officer at MRL Logistics
To participate your company, institute, or university first needs to form teams of 4 participants who will assume the functional roles of Purchasing, Sales, Operations, and Supply Chain. As an optional 5th role teams may also appoint a team coach in order to translate the learnings into their real life environment. This 5th role also presents an ideal opportunity to coach and guide the development of future leaders in your organisation. There is no limit to the number of teams companies can enter, and so there is also an opportunity to simultaneously conduct an internal competition. Commencing 5th March 2012, teams will then be split into country pools as part of the global challenge, and for a 12 week period will experience 6 iterations/rounds of the simulation as they compete to make the best business decisions for the value chain of The Fresh Connection company. Each fortnight (2 weeks) teams will participate in one iteration/round as they are challenged to make the most effective decisions as opportunities and risks become evident. Decisions will be able to be made or adjusted at any time during the round, with the leader board enabling teams to track their performance and where they are placed in their country’s pool. Team members need not be co-located - making virtual team building a possibility. Typically 2-3 hours per round will be required. After 6 rounds and a national final, the best performing teams will qualify for the global final to be conducted in Barcelona, Spain in September 2012. In Barcelona the world’s best teams will then come together with the chance to claim the title of Global Champion of The Fresh Connection: the ultimate value chain experience.
“In the game the impact of my decisions on my neighbour and my neighbour’s neighbour becomes apparent much more quickly. Since you’ve become more familiar with colleagues from other disciplines, it’s easier to raise issues with them.” Harm Hendriks, EMEA Supply Chain Manager at Canon Europe
From Directors to Planners, and from Finance to Supply Chain and Sales, The Fresh Connection is an ideal development opportunity for cross-functional teams, S&OP leadership groups, development programs, and all those involved in optimising the value chain and increasing business performance.
"The business game was a real eye opener to us. We learned the importance of deliberating thoroughly on the various value chain roles and of following a joint strategy. Thanks to the game we could experience the effect of certain working methods on the entire value chain. For instance, we learned to make choices and got to understand how our return can be influenced for the better on a company level. That understanding resulted in concrete ideas to enhance our business performance even further. Moreover, our good results in the open competition are leveraging our ideas for improvement at Guylian.” Véronique Altruye, senior market coordinator Europe at Chocolaterie Guylian
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