Quick Tutorial Start

This Quick Start Tutorial will  walk you through a sample Supply Chain Guru model – start to finish at an overview level without extensive detail.  However, it is a good idea to work through the Quick Start to gain a feel for the software capabilities.

During the Quick Start, you will set up a supply chain model for a Lemonade seller.

The business has:

One product – Lemonade

One distribution site – Lemonade Stand

One production site – Lemonade Supplier

Regularly recurring demand in the form of a customer site - Lemonade Drinkers

Your objective is to predict the financial performance of your Lemonade Stand for the next year, and then to improve profitability.

The SC Guru Process

There are three main steps in a simulation or optimization modeling study.

Step 1:  Build a Model

First, you describe your supply chain by filling in a series of data tables that define a model of your operation.  To achieve specific modeling objectives, you 1) Make preliminary decisions regarding how you want to use SC Guru. 2) Decide what data you need in order to accomplish the detail level of your study. 3) Identify which metrics you will use to evaluate your supply chain. 4) Enter the required simulation and optimization data in the tables. Many tables contain both simulation and optimization categories.  This allows you to create scenarios from both modeling paradigms.  

Step 2:  Make a Simulation or Optimization Run

Once you have built the model, run a simulation or optimization to evaluate your scenario or to design an improved network.

Step 3:  Analyze the Performance Metrics

After running a simulation, you can use the output reports to analyze your supply chain’s performance.

Network Performance Reports summarize financial performance for the entire supply chain network, such as profit generated, total revenues, and total costs.  

Scenario Graphs graphically display statistics for inventory levels, inventory investments, back orders, items in-transit, order cycle time, and space utilization.

Output Tables are detailed performance statistics related to sites and products.

Use these reports to determine how you can improve the performance of your supply chain, then create and analyze new scenarios.

Click Next to continue with the tutorial.

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