Free supply chain classroom lesson
Students test how one inventory, supplier, or capacity decision affects availability, waste, service, cash, and profit before recommending a resilient and responsible response. No account or personal information is required.
Direct answer
Use a baseline and one controlled change to make the flow from demand to supply visible. Students change an order quantity, supplier option, production plan, inventory focus, or capacity choice while holding other decisions steady. They compare availability, unmet demand, waste or shrink, service, operating cost, cash, revenue, and profit.
A strong recommendation does more than choose the cheapest input or largest order. It explains the demand assumption, identifies a bottleneck and risk, considers customers and workers, and states what the simplified model leaves out. The objective is a defensible balance among flow, resilience, cost, quality, and responsible sourcing.
Choose a supply setting
| Simulation | Supply chain focus | Question to test | Worksheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grocery store | Ordering, availability, freshness, shrink | Can a different inventory plan protect shelf availability without creating excess waste? | Open |
| Bakery | Production, ingredients, freshness, wholesale | How should production respond to the morning rush and wholesale demand without overproducing? | Open |
| Bookstore | Assortment, slow stock, events, competition | Does a focused inventory mix improve turns and availability while preserving customer choice? | Open |
| Food truck | Menu focus, prep capacity, location, weather | Can a narrower menu and matched prep capacity reduce waste and missed sales under uncertain demand? | Open |
| Pet store | Product mix, suppliers, care, staffing | Which supply choice balances product availability, quality, animal care, cost, and trust? | Open |
| Coffee shop | Inputs, pastries, capacity, waste | How should purchasing and capacity support demand without excess perishables or long queues? | Open |
Ready-to-use activity
Learning goal: students will use comparable flow, service, risk, and financial evidence to recommend a supply decision while recognizing model and responsible-sourcing limits.
| Measure | Baseline | Changed run | What it may show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demand or customers served | Required flow and demand context | ||
| Order, supplier, mix, or capacity decision | Change being evaluated | ||
| Availability, stockout, queue, or missed sales | Service and constraint performance | ||
| Waste, spoilage, shrink, or slow inventory | Excess supply and loss | ||
| Quality, satisfaction, trust, or retention | Customer outcome | ||
| Purchasing, production, or operating cost | Resource commitment | ||
| Cash, revenue, and profit | Financial effect |
Availability proxy
customers served ÷ demand, when both values are available
Waste rate
wasted units ÷ units purchased or produced × 100
Profit margin
profit ÷ revenue × 100
Use only measures the selected simulator reports. Label estimates and avoid inventing missing values.
Grade the quality of the evidence and reasoning, not simply the highest simulated profit.
Assign one simulation and decision. Compare a baseline with one changed run, record five measures, and write a recommendation with one service and one cost tradeoff.
Provide the flow map and preselect the decision and measures. Pair a simulator operator with an evidence recorder and use the six-sentence frame.
Run a third demand scenario, compare supplier profiles, add a disruption response, or build a scorecard balancing availability, waste, quality, cash, profit, and responsible-sourcing evidence.
A low simulated cost does not prove that a real supplier is safe, lawful, reliable, or responsible. Do not invent sustainability, origin, labor, safety, quality, certification, or availability claims. Students should label assumptions and distinguish simulator indicators from verified supplier evidence.
Real purchasing and supply decisions may involve product safety, labeling, import and export, sanctions, customs, contracts, privacy, accessibility, environmental, employment, human-rights, animal-welfare, licensing, and industry-specific requirements. Rules vary by product and place, so current authoritative information and qualified guidance may be necessary.
Responsible evaluation considers total cost and risk: quality failures, delays, worker and community effects, waste, resilience, traceability, and truthful customer communication. A manager should document criteria, verify material claims, protect confidential information, and avoid shifting unreasonable safety or legal risk to suppliers, workers, or customers.
Start with Grocery Store for a clear connection among ordering, shelf availability, freshness, waste, shrink, customer response, and profit. Use Bakery to add production planning, perishability, rush capacity, and wholesale demand.
Students practice demand planning, purchasing and supplier evaluation, inventory and capacity decisions, stockout and waste analysis, service-level interpretation, risk analysis, and responsible recommendations.
The full investigation takes about 50 minutes. A focused baseline-and-test version can fit in about 25 minutes.
No. The simulations run in a browser without accounts, names, email addresses, or downloads. Students can record fictional business decisions on the linked worksheets.
No. The model only supports classroom comparisons. Real sourcing claims and decisions require current evidence, applicable requirements, safety and quality controls, truthful communication, and appropriate professional review.
Use the operations management lesson to diagnose bottlenecks, the finance lesson to evaluate capacity investments, the marketing lesson to connect demand with promotion, or the teacher hub to choose another format.