IndustriesSupply chain & planning
Learn supply chain planning by doing the planner's job
Forecasts, stock, schedules and suppliers are easy to read about and hard to do. Here you do them, in a company whose customers, warehouse and factory react to every number you change.
- Runs in
- A web browser, 3D included
- One exercise
- 20 to 55 minutes
- Practice levels
- Six, from worked example to exam
- Working tools
- 8 used in these exercises
A real exercise
Sales announces a promotion next month. Your forecast has to change, but the history can't tell you how much. You talk to sales, adjust the forecast, check whether the factory and the suppliers can keep up, and commit a plan the whole company will work to.
How it works
Every exercise follows the same rhythm as the real job: a problem arrives, you investigate, you act, and the simulated company responds.
- 01
The numbers move
A promotion, a trend, a supplier delay or a stock shortage lands on your desk.
- 02
You dig in
Look at demand history, stock records, open orders and lead times. Ask sales, purchasing and the plant.
- 03
You commit a plan
Set the forecast, the stock policy, the master schedule and the orders, with the same tools planners use.
- 04
You live with it
Weeks pass. Service levels, costs and stock show whether the plan held, and the debrief shows why.
What you practise
Concrete tasks taken from the exercises on this page. Each one is done with real data, under real constraints, inside the same simulated company.
- T01
Forecast demand
Stable demand, trends and seasons, and a promotion that history cannot predict.
- T02
Set stock policy
Choose reorder points and safety stock that protect service without filling the warehouse.
- T03
Agree the quarter in S&OP
Balance what sales wants against what the factory and the budget can do.
- T04
Build the master schedule
Decide what to make each week and what you can promise to customers.
- T05
Run MRP
Explode the bill of materials and decide which parts to buy or make, and when.
- T06
Handle a supplier delay
Re-plan when a delivery slips, and choose the cheapest way to protect the customer.
What your organisation gets
Evidence, not attendance.
- 01
Concepts turn into judgement
Learners see why safety stock or a frozen schedule matters, because they feel what happens without it.
- 02
One company, many skills
Forecasting, inventory, scheduling and supplier problems all happen in the same company, so each decision affects the next.
- 03
Clear evidence of skill
Every decision is recorded with its reasoning, so a teacher or manager can see how someone plans, not just their final score.
The tools you work with
Working tools, not screenshots. They read the same live data as the rest of the simulated company, and what you change in one shows up in the others.
- 01
Demand history
Past demand, open orders and the published forecast, side by side.
- 02
Forecasting
Compare forecasting methods, tune them, read the error and publish one.
- 03
Sales and operations plan
Compare level, chase and mixed plans on cost and service.
- 04
Master schedule
Build the weekly schedule and see what can still be promised to customers.
- 05
Material planning
Explode the bill of materials, net it against stock and release orders.
- 06
Stock policy
Work out order quantities, safety stock and reorder points for a service target.
- 07
Supplier performance
Lead times, on-time-in-full, defect rates and quoted terms across suppliers.
- 08
Cost and trade-offs
Price each recovery option and compare the service each one buys.
Six levels, one exercise
Teachers and trainers choose how much help each person gets. The exercise stays the same; only the guidance and the grading change.
- L1
Watch it done
The exercise solved step by step, with what each step changed.
- Hints
- Read only
- Graded
- No
- L2
Step by step
The next move is pointed out, every hint is open, goals update as you work.
- Hints
- All hints
- Graded
- Yes
- L3
With hints
Every hint is open, but finding the next step is up to you.
- Hints
- All hints
- Graded
- Yes
- L4
On your own
Hints stop short of the worked answer. Goals still update as you go.
- Hints
- Some hints
- Graded
- Yes
- L5
Exam
No hints and no AI helper. Results appear only after you submit.
- Hints
- None
- Graded
- Yes
- L6
Free play
An open what-if sandbox. Try anything; nothing counts towards a grade.
- Hints
- All hints
- Graded
- No
What every attempt leaves behind
Judge the work, not a quiz score. Every attempt is recorded as it happens, so you can see how someone worked, not only where they ended up.
Every action, in order
What was checked, who was asked, what was changed and when. Nothing is overwritten.
Scores by skill
Each exercise scores the skills it was built to test, from what was actually done.
Weak habits, flagged
Poor patterns in how the work was done are flagged, not only wrong final answers.
A replay of the attempt
Step through the session as it happened, with typed personal details masked.
- The numbers move
- You dig in
- You commit a plan
- You live with it
Do learners need to know MRP or S&OP already?
No. An exercise can be taken step by step: first watch a worked walk-through, then try it with hints, then do it alone. Short concept pages explain the ideas in plain words.
Is this like the Beer Game or Littlefield?
Those are classic classroom games built around one mechanic. Here learners work in a whole company with people, documents and many connected tools, and every action is recorded for review.
How long is an exercise?
Most take 20 to 55 minutes, so one fits in a class session or a lunch break.
Related
See it with your own people
Start with a pilot: one course or one team. We help you choose the exercises and measure the results.