THE COMPANY

Welcome
Welcome to The Fresh Connection. Before you and your teammates save The Fresh Connection
from certain ruin, it is useful to understand a bit more about the company and its supply chain.

Customers and products

The Fresh Connection is a producer of fruit juices. It provides a modest range of flavors in different
pack sizes. It is delivered to a limited set of customers. The Fresh Connection supplies its
customers directly. The delivery is made on the next day after the customer places an order.

Product storage and shelf life

The Fresh Connection products are stored on pallets in the finished goods warehouse. They stay
there until a delivery is made, or until their shelf life has expired. The finished goods have, from the
moment of production, a shelf life of 20 weeks. The customers claim a significant part of these 20
weeks, usually between 60 and 80%. This leaves The Fresh Connection with a total shelf life
between 20 and 40% of these 20 weeks. In case the shelf life expires, the product will unfortunately
have to be destroyed. The Fresh Connection does not have its own fleet to deliver to its customer’s
distribution centers and instead outsources the transportation to an extremely reliable partner.

The production process

The Fresh Connection manufactures all the products it sells itself. The fruit juices are mixed in a
mixer and immediately after, they are bottled using a bottling line. Mixer and bottling line are part of
The Fresh Connection’s equipment. The pack sizes are bottled on the same line.

The components
A finished product consists of two main components – packaging and pulp (concentrated fruit
juice). An extensive bill of materials lists what quantity of which component is used in a finished
product (see the information tab). The formula - the fruit-pulp mix and additives that give the fruit
juices their unique flavor – has been one of the most closely-guarded Fresh Connection secrets for
over a century.

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The suppliers
The components are purchased from suppliers. The packaging material is bought from local and
regional suppliers. Pulp is acquired either from fruit traders or producers from across the globe.
Each supplier has its own characteristics regarding for example price, lead time and reliability.

Component storage
The components that are delivered to The Fresh Connection cannot always be immediately used in
production, that is why the company has a raw materials warehouse to store them. Packaging
material is delivered on pallets and stored in this raw materials warehouse. The warehouse also
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holds fruit pulp, if it is delivered in drums or IBCs . The fruit pulp that arrives in tank trucks is
pumped into a tank yard. The pulp has a restricted shelf life, and once expired the pulp will be
destroyed..

Further reading
You now have an idea of how The Fresh Connection operates. We advise you to also read The
Mission, where we explain what is expected from you and your team.

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Intermediate Bulk Containers; small tanks that hold 1,000 liters

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 THE MISSION
Welcome
Welcome and thanks for being a part of The Fresh Connection! Together with your teammates, you
will be in charge of the fruit juice producer The Fresh Connection. If you make the right decisions,
you will save the company from going under. Things have been going badly at The Fresh Connec-
tion for some time now – it’s running at a loss, customers are complaining bitterly about poor ser-
vice levels and in the meantime the warehouses are bursting at the seams with stock. In short,
something’s got to be done. Will you be the one to save The Fresh Connection?

Roles and responsibilities

The company is run together with three other teammates. You make up the management team of
The Fresh Connection. Each team member has a specific role: VP (vice-president) Purchasing, VP
Operations, VP Sales or VP Supply Chain Management. All team members have their own respon-
sibilities in terms of the role they assume, allowing them to also make their own decisions. Howev-
er, as a great philosopher once said: ‘Together is not alone’. Cooperation is the key to saving The
Fresh Connection from going under.

VP Purchasing
The VP Purchasing is responsible for purchasing the components. He/she negotiates the terms of
supply and the price with suppliers, and can terminate existing contracts and conclude new ones.
The VP Purchasing plays a crucial role in the game. By choosing suppliers who offer favourable
terms, low prices and a high level of reliability, the total purchasing costs are kept under control,
stocks stay low and reliability of delivery for components to production is high.

VP Operations
The VP Operations is in charge of the production facilities and the warehouses. He/she orches-
trates the work shifts and ensures that the staff are trained. He also decides on the space and
manpower deployed in the warehouses. The VP Operations can make or break the game for the
entire team. By ensuring that the production system remains flexible, production costs are low and
reliability high, the total production costs are controlled while product availability is high.

VP Sales
Product sales are overseen by the VP Sales. He/she negotiates The Fresh Connection’s terms of
delivery with the customers. Things such as the service level, promotional pressures and the sales
volume rebate are all negotiable. The VP Sales plays an extremely important role in the game and
his bargaining can result in a high sales price - as long as The Fresh Connection can keep its
promises. And sales are, of course, the launch pad for profits!

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VP Supply Chain Management
The VP Supply Chain Management is the glue that holds the other roles together. By devising a
supply chain strategy and undertaking intelligent inventory planning, the VP Supply Chain Man-
agement plays a decisive role in the team. He/she can ensure that unreliable suppliers or produc-
tion facilities are covered by strategically deployed safety stock, ensuring that the company keeps
its promises to the customer.

Strategy
Each team member can make decisions individually, but as a team you need a good strategy to
achieve the best results. It is not advisable, for example, for the VP Sales to agree to high service
levels with the customer, while the VP Supply Chain Management is cutting back on stock! That’s
why it’s essential you always discuss your decisions with each other.

Further reading
We advise you to also read The Company, where you can delve into the workings of The Fresh
Connection’s supply chain. You will then have an idea of the things you must take into considera-
tion.

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 THE EXPERIENCE
Welcome
The Fresh Connection takes a number of rounds to experience. Every round depicts a half a year
of The Fresh Connection. As soon as you have finished a round, the round will be calculated and
you will jump a half a year in time.

Scores
The objective is for you and your team to achieve the best return on investments (ROI). In other
words, the sole aim is not simply to make as much money as possible – managing your invest-
ments in a proper way also counts. Next to the team score there is also an individual score. These
individual scores do not count towards the team score, but it’s always nice to be the best in your
field!
After each round you can check your performance and compare with the other teams.

Decisions
You will make many decisions during The Fresh Connection. A trade-off is incorporated into every
decision, so a decision will never only have positive effects, but negative ones too. The trick is to
assess these consequences and to balance them against each other. Should you not make any
decisions during a given round, the decisions made in the previous round will then be reused.

Tactics and Strategy

The Fresh Connection is a tactical and strategic game. You will be assessed in terms of the long-
term effects of your decisions. This means that you must gear your business towards long-term
goals (as if your decisions will be in effect over many years). Given that we will measure the results
in terms of their long-term effects, you will never suffer the negative consequences resulting from
poor decisions in previous rounds in the current round. The advantage of this is that you can organ-
ise the business in a new way every round, without having to take the decisions and results from
previous rounds into account. But of course by analysing your results from the previous rounds
closely you can start making improvements.

To conclude
Good luck in managing The Fresh Connection.