Simulation Game Analysis - Example

Table of Contents Introduction 1 Interesting Issues in Supply Chain 2 Performance Result 4 Learning’s 5 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction This paper looks to provide complete details regarding the simulation game which was carried out by two different groups having different members and each member carrying out different roles in the organization. This report looks at presenting the result which was achieved in the simulation game by comparing the performance of SC1 with SC2. The paper will also look to highlight the performance of my group which is SC2 and I work in the manufacturing section. The report will also compare the performance of manufacturer of SC1 and SC2 and will analyze the overall performance and result of the simulation game. In addition to it the paper will look to present the different interesting issues which the supply chain puts forward and will bring forward the different learning which the game provided. This will thereby help to set the tone for the future and will help to understand the same in actual world scenario. The overall focus will be towards understanding the manner in which real business gets affected by different areas by creating a hypothetical situation so that the overall learning and performance is improved in the future. Interesting Issues in Supply Chain The simulation game which was carried over 12 weeks presented some important issues which supply chain managers might face in the real world and needs to be encountered so that overall growth and development becomes possible. Some of the issues which the simulation supply chain game presented are as Cost Containment: Cutting down cost associated with storage, lead time and supply chain risk is one of the major issues which the game presented. Cutting down production to cut carrying cost of inventory would result in under production and shortage and having more products would mean additional carrying cost (Kampstra, Ashayeri and Gattorna, 2006). This is a dilemma before the manufacturing department as gauging the actual customer demand becomes difficult. This results in additional cost which could make the supply chain ineffective and needs to be properly monitored and identified so that leakages are reduced and cost is contained. Improper Visibility: The game highlighted that there are different data which like customer demand, distribution network, wholesaler and retailers which needs to analyzed together and based on it future predictions have to be made. It is difficult to analyze the data together because they are all individual items and one has an impact on other (Disney and Towill, 2003). This thereby reduces visibility with regard to crafting the appropriate strategy which the business should follow and results in impacting the performance of the supply chain network. High Risk: The supply chain is exposed to very high risk as any change in technology, customer demand and expectation makes the entire supply chain look futile. The bigger the network the higher is the risk as changes of information, and strategies to be leaked increases (Chopra and Meindl, 2004). Further developing a supply chain requires continuous up-gradation and changes which is difficult and thereby highlights high risk for the business. Customer Demand: The customer demand is very irrational and understanding their expectation and requirements is not possible fully. During the game decisions were takes based on what the customer can expect but in reality it doesn’t always turn out the same (Hugos and Thomas, 2005). These results in over production and increase in overall cost for the business. The inability to understand human behaviour as it is irrational creates additional pressure and has an impact on the overall mechanism of developing the supply chain. The simulation game thereby offered different challenges and looked towards creating real world scenario and brought forward some of the issues. This are some issues but in the real world the issues will be of a bigger magnitude and would have an impact on the performance of the business to a very large extent. Performance Result A look at the performance of SC2 highlights continuous rise in inventory as the manufacturer didn’t look to produce the required number of goods in the early weeks but increased their production later on. The production didn’t meet the customer needs as the order from the customer was zero except in the last week which has resulted in a rise in overall cost. SC2 also witnessed shortage in production which highlights that the different needs and requirements of the customer was not properly met. The overall planning of the manufacturing unit in SC2 was inappropriate and resulted in high inventory which resulted in high inventory cost which was 76. In addition to it SC2 also witnessed shortage which resulted in shortage cost to be around 19 making the total cost for the manufacturing unit to be 95. When we look at the performance of manufacturing sector in SC1 highlights better control over inventory as the manufacturer produced the goods which the customer wanted and was thereby able to reduce the cost of carrying inventory. The production met the customer needs which helped them to consume what they manufactured and the business was able to deal with shortage in a better way. SC1 also didn’t witness shortage in production which highlights that the different needs and requirements of the customer was properly met. The overall planning of the manufacturing unit in SC1 was appropriate and resulted in low inventory which resulted in inventory cost which was 41. In addition to it SC1 also didn’t witnessed shortage which resulted in shortage cost to be very low and was around 4 making the total cost for the manufacturing unit to be 45. SC1 was more effective in comparison to SC2 which thereby resulted in ensuring that the manufacturing of SC1 was performing better in comparison to the performance of SC2. A look at the overall performance of SC1 and SC2 shows that huge production and inventory from the manufacturer of SC2 resulted in the total cost to rise. SC2 witnessed high cost associated with distribution, retailer and wholesaler which was around 59.5, 35 and 33 making the total cost including manufacturing to be 222.5. SC1 on the other hand performed better as the manufacturing unit was sounder which made the total cost associated with distribution, retailer and wholesaler which was around 44, 27 and 37 making the total cost including manufacturing to be 153. This shows that SC1 was more effective in developing a sounder supply chain as they were able to control cost better and use the different resources in a manner which enabled them to ensure better productivity. The overall performance of SC1 was better and was on account of better planning and understanding the market situation. This resulted in manufacturing as per the needs and requirements of the market and thereby ensuring better results. SC2 was unable to understand and develop the supply chain as it is required which thereby resulted in different bottlenecks in the supply chain and thereby impacted the productivity making the overall cost of the business to be high. Learning’s The simulation game exercise which looked towards creating an hypothetical real world scenario was a great learning curve as it helped to understand the supply chain and brought forward the important core areas. Since, it was game where actual money is not involved so taking decisions were much easier in comparison to a situation where real money is involved. Also in the real world the other factors which have a role on supply chain is huge and impact the business heavily is another important consideration which has to be made in the real world. The overall situation was created to near world but in reality the difficulties are more which the simulation exercise helped to understand and would thereby help to understand the manner in which future decisions in the real world has to be taken. The simulation exercise helped to understand the interlaying relationship which is present among the different functions of the supply chain. It was seen that any issues or improper planning in the supply chain results in bottleneck which thereby impacts the overall cost of storage, production and carrying cost (Garfinkel and Rosenberg, 2005). Developing the supply chain requires working in all the different core areas which has an impact on performance as it would otherwise make the entire supply chain futile. In addition to it the supply chain has to be innovative and needs to be continuously changed and developed based on the changing environment and business needs so that the business is able to work on the required core areas through which business development was possible. The exercise showed the manner in which manufacturing is linked with distribution, retailer and wholesaler and having a properly determined network which works on all the areas ensures better productivity and helps to reduce cost. This makes it imperative that the supply chain is free from all bottlenecks and the process looks towards working on the important core areas through which business development process would become possible. The simulation exercise helped to understand the business doesn’t operate as a number of external factors have an impact on business performance. For example the simulation exercise helped to understand the manner in which competitors decision has an impact on performance. It was seen that SC1 was able to understand the customer needs better which helped them to execute their plans properly and have a supply chain which was free from bottlenecks. This was lacking in my group which thereby resulted in very high cost for the business. This was one of the external factors which impacted the business but in reality a number of external factors have their bearing on performance. The process thereby has to look towards understanding the external factors and the manner in which it impacts business. The business process has to take care of the external factors while planning so that the process looks towards ensuring that every factor which will have an impact on the supply chain is considered. This will help to develop a strong supply chain network which is free from bottlenecks and would thereby ensure that the overall business productivity will increase and would help to improve productivity. It is important that the supply chain is developed in such a manner which looks towards fulfilling the different gaps so that productivity is improved and the business is able to ensure bigger gain for the business. Another important learning from the simulation game is that it is imperative to plan early and back up plans so that the required changes can be done at the appropriate time. This will help to ensure continuous check and will provide an imperative through which business would be better controlled. This will provide an opportunity to take appropriate steps at the correct time (Enarsson, 2006). This could have helped our team SC2 as taking appropriate steps and producing and cutting down production at the right moment would have helped to reduce the supply chain cost. This would also have helped to reduce the risk which the supply chain faces and would thereby improve productivity. In addition to it having back up plans when the main plan doesn’t work is essential as it helps to control the overall process through which work is being carried out. This will help the supply chain function and will enable to take decisions through which gaps which are present will be filled. The supply chain is also exposed to various kind of risk which makes the entire supply chain brittle. It becomes imperative that the weak areas in the supply chain is identified and those are filled as it could otherwise multiply the overall risk for the supply chain (NuThink, 2001). Further, the supply chain integrates different function and is a speciality function which would require thereby require that the weak areas are correctly identified. Based on the changing business conditions and evolving environment the supply chain has to undergo the required changes so that better functionality becomes possible. The supply chain has to evolve on a continuous basis so that different business needs are met. This will help to ensure that the supply chain is developed thinking in mind the different core areas through which the overall productivity is bound to increase (Simchi-Levi, Kaminsky, and Simchi-Levi, 2009). This will thereby ensure that the supply chain will be stronger and will look towards filling those gaps through which supply network will improve and business will gain. The simulation exercise also helped to understand that strategies have to be developed keeping in mind the competitors strategy. This will ensure that the overall planning will consider the different important areas through which supply chain network will be developed. Understanding the competitors’ strategy and looking towards consolidating the planning process will ensure better returns (Bhattacharya, Chao-Hsien and Mullen, 2007). This has to be matched by the fact that continuous development and changes have to be made to the supply chain network so that better results are achieved. The simulation exercise showed the manner in which different changes have to be made and the manner in which it will provide better productivity and returns. The simulation exercise thereby helped to focus on important core areas through which business gains can be improved. The simulation exercise also helped to understand the manner in which linkage between the different functions have to be developed. This will help to ensure that leakages are reduced and overall productivity is improved. It is important that the linkage is properly developed which will thereby multiply the overall gains (Michael and McCathie, 2005). The simulation exercise helped to understand and learn the different areas through which supply chain can be developed so that the effects multiply and business effectiveness is garnered. This will help to ensure that business looks at different core areas and improves the mechanism through which business results is improved. Further, the simulation exercise helped to understand that it is important to compile the different data together so that better decisions can be taken. Looking at individual data and transforming those into useful decision areas will not fetch the results which are expected. This makes it imperative that the business decisions are taken based on all the different inputs from all the areas so that the supply chain is free from bottlenecks (Hugos and Thomas, 2005). This will also ensure that the planning process includes the different external and internal factor thereby strengthening the role of the supply chain network. The supply chain as a result will be thereby based on different factors and would help to improve the overall mechanism through which different decisions are taken. Having information and compiling the information from all the areas will ensure that the process strengthens the decision making process. This will thereby multiply the overall process of decision making and would ensure that the simulation learning can be used in real world scenario. The overall learning from the simulation exercise was very effective as it helped to deal with the real world situations and presented the different core areas which business needs to focus on. The exercise focused on different areas and helped to understand the manner in which supply chain has to be developed so that cost is reduced and business productivity is multiplied. Since, the game didn’t involve any money it provided an opportunity to use different strategies and tactics which would otherwise become difficult in the real world scenario. The game provided an opportunity and helped to ensure that different strategies could be used which thereby multiplied the overall effectiveness of decision making. Further, developing the supply chain and the manner in which the different functions are interlinked to one another also helped to understand the different dimensions through which risk is reduced. The game was thereby a learning exercise which helped to use the learning in a practical world. This helped to ensure that the different theories and exercise which I have learnt were used and helped to understand the manner through which better results were achieved from it. The overall process was thereby very effective and helped to understand the different areas through which supply chain can be developed. The learning will also ensure that in the future when I encounter similar situation I will be better placed to take decisions through which the supply chain can be improved. This will thereby help me to prepare for the future and would enable the entire process to be developed in such a manner through which business results are better achieved. The exercise has also helped to brought about the manner in which I was thinking about the supply chain process and has helped to work on the different dimensions through which business productivity is better shaped. The overall process of simulation game would thereby enable to ensure better results and would ensure that the different learning can be used through which better decisions can be taken in the future. This will thereby ensure that I am able to take better decisions and the results which I achieve will be sounder and better in the future. Conclusion The paper thereby presented the complete details about the simulation game which was carried out between two groups. The paper presented the result which was achieved in the simulation game by comparing the performance of SC1 with SC2. The paper also highlighted the performance of my group which is SC2 and I work in the manufacturing section. The report also compared the performance of manufacturer of SC1 and SC2 and will analyze the overall performance and result of the simulation game. In addition to it the paper presented the different interesting issues which the supply chain puts forward and will bring forward the different learning which the game provided. This will thereby help to set the tone for the future and will help to understand the same in actual world scenario. The overall paper looks towards understanding the manner in which supply chain works and helped to find out the different core areas through which better performance can be achieved and supply chain can be developed. References Bhattacharya, M., Chao-Hsien, C. and Mullen, T. 2007. RFID Implementation in Retail Industry: Current Status, Issues, and Challenges. Accepted to Decision Science Institute (DSI) Conference, Phoenix AZ, for November 2007 conference. Chopra, S. and Meindl, P. 2004. Supply Chain Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Disney, S. and Towill, D. 2003. Bullwhip Reduction in Supply Chains: The Impact of VMI International Journal of Operations and Production Management. 23 (6), 625-651. Enarsson, L. 2006. Future Logistics Challenges. Frederiksberg, Denmark: Copenhagen Business School Press. Garfinkel, S. and Rosenberg, B. 2005. RFID Applications, Security and Privacy. Addison-Wesley Professional Hugos, M. and Thomas, C. 2005. Supply Chain Management in the Retail Industry. Wiley. Kampstra , R., Ashayeri, J. and Gattorna, J. 2006. Realities of Supply Chain Collaboration. University of Wollongong, Australia: Centre for Supply Chain Research; and United Kingdom: Cranfield School of Management Michael, K. and McCathie, L. 2005. The Pros and Cons of RFID in Supply Chain Management. Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Mobile Business. Sydney, Australia. 623-629 NuThink, Inc. 2001. Improve Profits, Competitiveness & Satisfaction with a high performance Retail Supply Chain. Simchi-Levi, D., Kaminsky, P. and Simchi-Levi, E. 2009. Designing and Managing the Supply Chain, McGraw-Hill Read More