Congratulations to Chris Crouch, James Duvall, Tony Nguyen, and Eli Reihman from the University of California, San Diego for winning the RedPrairie Supply Chain Challenge! Each winner received a $1,000 scholarship and bragging rights! This virtual game featured 344 students representing 41 colleges in 9 countries!

Thank you to our 2010 game sponsor:

The RedPrairie Supply Chain Challenge is a virtual competition using a customized web-based version of the Littlefield Technologies game from Responsive Technologies.

Students will have the opportunity to manage make-to-order factory and make forecasting, capacity, and inventory and pricing decisions. Teams of 2-4 students will compete and the winning team will be the one that maximizes their profits by managing the assets (inventory, equipment and cash) within this factory.

Other than standard browsers no software is required.

2-4 students per team

5 teams per degree per school, Maximum 100 teams (Max 5 teams per degree, per college with additional teams placed on reserve hold - pending open slots based on maximum 100 allowed teams)

Registration Deadline:

February 5, 2010 (Arizona time) – Registration is closed.

Students must register by February 5, 2010, 5 p.m. (Arizona time). Students will not be able to participate in the event unless they have done so.

Disciplines / Skills Recommended:

Students that have a basic understanding of supply and demand issues (such as business students, supply chain management students or engineering students) are invited to participate.

This event is open to students at the graduate and undergraduate level.

Graduate and undergraduate teasm will compete in different brackets.

Event Description:

Littlefield Technologies is a job shop which assembles Digital Satellite System receivers. These receivers are assembled from kits of electronic components procured from a single supplier. The assembly process consists of four steps carried out at 3 stations called board stuffing, testing and tuning. The first step consists of mounting the components onto PC Boards and soldering them. This is done at the board stuffing station. The digital components are then briefly tested at the testing station in step 2. In the third step, key components are tuned at the tuning station. Finally, the boards are exhaustively "final tested" in step 4 at the testing station before delivery to the customer. Every receiver passes final test.

Within the game, you will be responsible for all decisions regarding forecasting, inventory management, capacity management, schedule and pricing.

Some decision you will be making are described below:

Purchasing and selling machines. To determine appropriate capacity levels, teams can examine utilization and queueing to locate bottlenecks in the factory based on historic utilization, historic queueing levels, and historic demand levels. Teams can use demand trends to predict when capacity will be insufficient, illustrating long-term capacity planning.

Queue sequencing. Littlefield Technologies' process flow is re-entrant, consisting of four steps on three stations. Teams can leverage queue sequencing rules at the station with two process steps.

Lot sizing. Students can adjust lot sizes (also called batch transfer sizes) in the presence of set up times.

Inventory Management. Littlefield Technologies uses a continuous review of inventory management system. Students will be able to establish the best order quantity and reorder point o maximize profit and ensure desired customer sevice levels.

Contract choice. Students can select from a menu of contracts under which new customer orders will be accepted.

Parameters:

Game scenario will be provided by February 19, 2010 by 9 a.m. (Arizona time).

Schedule:

Prior to February 5, 2010 (Arizona time)

Students must register at http://www.avnettechgames.com/ by February 5, 2010 5 p.m. (Arizona time): Students will not be able to participate in the event unless they have done so.

Once Avnet processes the registration, students will be provided with a URL that will allow them to confirm their team account on the game server. Each team should confirm their successful registration prior to the game day.

Febraury 19, 2010 by 9 a.m. (Arizona Time) Student teams will be emailed a game scenario for planning purposes. Students will be able to access their factories to review 1-2 years of historical demand prior to the start of the game on the 20.

Game Day (February 20, 2010)

• 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. (Arizona time) - Validate team login and notify Avnet of any access issues
• 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. (Arizona time) - Game begins. The game will run 4 hours simulating 2-4 years of business data. The game will move quickly so it is important to have a game plan in place prior to the start of the game.
• 1 p.m.- 2 p.m. (Arizona time) - Wrap up and identification of winning team

Awards:

Each team member will win a $1000 scholarship

Equipment Requirements for Students:

• Computers with Internet Access

Equipment Requirements for Venue:

• Game Server

FAQs:

For more information, e-mail AvnetTechGames@Avnet.com or call (480) 643-7657.

Scholarships and honorariums provided by Carstens Family Funds and administered by the Arizona Technology Council.