Supply chain management skills are more important than ever right now, to ensure that commodities and supply chains keep moving amid the challenges of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the growing demand for skilled, knowledgeable supply chain professionals, some South Africans in the field are playing games at work.

The games are a serious business, however, according to SAPICS (The Professional Body for Supply Chain Management). Tonya Lamb, business development executive at SAPICS, explains that “The Fresh Connection Challenge” is an innovative business simulation game that is delivering big benefits for companies around the world.

Developed in the Netherlands nine years ago, The Fresh Connection was launched in South Africa in 2010 by SAPICS. South African teams from the retail, logistics and aerospace industries are currently pitting their skills against the best in the world in the annual Fresh Connection Global PRO Challenge.

“For optimal performance, a supply chain needs the collaboration of team members from across the organisation,” Lamb expands. “Breaking down silos and creating the right cross-functional mindset, however, can be a major challenge. The Fresh Connection is a unique supply chain management training tool designed to equip participants with the skills to rise to this challenge. In the ‘game’, company and individual teams, each comprising four members, participate in web-based challenges and compete against other international teams. They must make the best strategic and tactical choices to save a virtual company, The Fresh Connection, from financial ruin. Each function – including supply chain management, sales, purchasing and operations - can make a limited number of decisions and they must work together closely to positively impact return on investment. What makes the game even more interesting is that supply chain risks are randomly activated and can seriously harm the company if not mitigated against.”

Fresh Connection trainer Ken Titmuss has worked with teams from South Africa, France and Singapore over more than 10 years. His company, Kent Outsourcing Services, is a SAPICS Corporate Partner and an Authorised Education Partner. “The Fresh Connection allows participants to understand how and why they need to collaborate in their organisations in making tactical and strategic decisions to improve the business. It is a risk free environment to try out different approaches,” he explains.

With the importance – and vulnerabilities – of supply chains highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis, it is fitting that this year’s edition of The Fresh Connection Global PRO Challenge focuses on the theme of “Supply Chain Resilience”. Teams are being challenged to manage a supply chain to ensure that it is prepared for the unexpected. They must mitigate black swans – or unforeseen events - under time pressure and strive to be the fastest to recover and get back to a stable situation.

“With shock waves and uncertainty being the order of the day in supply chains, being able to pivot and respond quickly and effectively without compromising your business could be a make or break,” Titmuss stresses. “The Fresh Connection is challenging the skills and knowledge of this year’s competitors as well as demanding that they take quick and decisive action.”

Three South African teams have joined The Fresh Connection Global PRO Challenge 2021 to date. They have high praise for the business simulation game. “It helps you think holistically of the decisions made in an organisation as decisions in each department impact other departments. It also assists the team members to align to a strategy and to test this high-level strategy in a risk-free environment. For me, it cemented a lot of the concepts one needs to know in the supply chain environment,” commented Rykers Voges of Pep Stores.

Khalid Abukalusa of DSV said: “I joined the supply chain industry in 2018, right after completing my degree. I have been mainly focused on the warehousing side of the supply chain. The Fresh Connection has given me the broadest spectrum of business knowledge to date; ranging from purchasing, operations and supply chain to sales. It is definitely intriguing. A small change in one department ripples through the entire flow to affect return on investment.”

Titmuss says that more teams are expected to join The Fresh Connection Global PRO Challenge with the competition’s second 2021 intake in August. Anyone interested in entering a team should contact Gugu Mashiane at SAPICS by emailing gugu@sapics.org.za

The 2021 Fresh Connection Global PRO Challenge will culminate in the global final in November. This year, the best performing teams will gather online for the final, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides recognition and fame, the Global PRO champions will win an intensive four-day Executive Education Supply Chain Management course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States worth more than R80 000 per participant.