During their study Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Twente, team Maximum Quality came into contact with the Fresh Connection business simulation from Inchainge. As number 1 of their study, they were invited to one of the three qualification rounds of the International Global Student Challenge of this game. During the participation of the first qualification round between 16/11/2020 and 14/12/2020, team Maximum Quality finished in 1st place, allowing them to go to the final in May 2021.
The simulation is a supply chain game where the team runs a virtual company called The Fresh connection, a fruit juice manufacturer. Each team starts with a loss-making company and the goal is to achieve the highest weighted return on investment (ROI) based on four rounds where each round represents a half year. In order to achieve a high ROI, it is important to coordinate the entire supply chain, by estimating risks and returns of all possible options.
During the final (2/5/2021-8/5/2021) the day started with the leaderboard announcement based on the weighted return on investment. After the results of the previous round the day continued with some networking activities which was followed by the opening of the new round.
Despite it being an online event, Maximum Quality experienced this event as an adventure. During the week they lived in their own small world with a lot of fun. They worked hard as a team to beat the competition in this thrilling final. To achieve this they worked all day and night, because time for sleep would come once the event was over. After all those hours of work, the team was rewarded with a well-deserved highest ROI (58,35%) during the last round. Finally, they were able to achieve 3rd place as the first team ever representing the University of Twente in the finals and as the first Dutch team ever to reach the top 3.
For more information see inchainge.com
