GPC 2012

On Friday September 14th 2012 the global final of The Fresh Connection was held. The Dutch team FrieslandCampina won the EveryAngle TFC world trophy 2012. In an amazing final in Barcelona they beat the other 8 teams. Congratulations also to the runner-up, Appletiser from South Africa, and Philip Morris from Malaysia finishing in third place.

Finals in Barcelona

Thursday evening the global final started with a tapas dinner in down-town Barcelona. One could already feel the tension among the 9 competing teams. As all teams were mixed over the tables, experiences were exchanged and people tried to find out eachother’s strategy. It was great to see participants from all over the world sharing a new language: The Fresh Connection.

Thrilling finals

The finals started with the entry of the teams in their respective company outfits and with their mascots. The final consisted of 4 rounds; after two warm-up rounds, the final ranking would be determined by the last two rounds. In the first round, all teams started from scratch and got the opportunity to develop a winning strategy. Already in this round FrieslandCampina achieved the highest score.

In the second round, the option was introduced to do business with a logistics service provider for both the inbound and outbound flow of goods. By interviewing 4 different LSPs the teams had to find out the relevant information on which to base their decision.

In the third round, the possibility to add “fresh” products to the portfolio was introduced. A tough challenge since handling fresh products required serious changes to the TFC supply chain.

In fourth and final round, the teams could bid on a technology to extend the shelf life of the “fresh” product. A strategic challenge, since bids could be done by consortia of teams; so … who conspired with whom … and against whom?