Supply Chain Management and the Importance of Forecasting
The Impulse simulation may be used to provide participants with the experience of managing in a supply chain. Participants make decisions on how many products to purchase in order to satisfy their customers. The decisions have to be made with varying degrees of knowledge and information visibility. Teams also make choices on how to improve their supply chain performance and go on to implement these changes. Impulse is easily configured for a variety of supply chain structures. The results from the run are immediately available, with drill-down into each company's data and cross-chain comparisons to illustrate and inform discussions.
Managing Complexity
The accessible nature of Impulse also brings the discussion of managing complexity to life. Three levels of control may be exemplified;
- Policies
- Guidelines
- Rules
The answer to the best way to manage increasing complexity is counter-intuitive, but Impulse makes the theory abundently tangible.
What Makes Impulse so Effective for Business Education?
The extended and complex reality of supply chains makes it hard to connect theory with reality, even for those who have direct experience. Impulse brings an extended supply chain into the classroom. Participants experience the pressures and concerns of making supply chain decisions with varying lead times and forecast visibility. The results of those decisions are then clearly laid out before them so that they have demonstrated and experienced the validity of the theory.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the lecture and having run the model, participants should:
- Understand and appreciate the supply chain "whiplash effect"
- Be able to extrapolate to other supply chains
- Comprehend the importance of accurate forecasting
- Appreciate the potential financial impacts of forecasting and supply chain inefficiencies
- Understand where to look for supply chain cost savings and productivity gains
- Managing complexity
- How to share best practice
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