Abstract
The Cincinnati Seasonings Supply Chain is a mockup of a supply chain to support a company that designs and markets food seasonings and sells its products in stores throughout the United States. The purpose of the case study was to familiarize students with setting up a supply chain and simulate its operations. The thought process was to define the product and set up the facilities, vehicles, and routes to have an effective and efficient supply chain. The challenge for the entire exercise was to get the Supply Chain to run continuously for thirty days or more, without interruption or running out of product. Cincinnati Seasonings is a family owned and operated business; the founder was born and raised in Ohio. Cincinnati is famous for its chili but these seasonings add a special spice and flavor to the Chili that no other seasoning offers. Cincinnati Seasonings has done very well and is expanding but the company is always searching for ways to keep costs down and figure out how to run the operation as efficiently as possible.
Simulation
The purpose of the simulation was to create a supply chain to support the Cincinnati Seasonings business and see how the inventory was transferred through different facilities. After initially setting up the Supply Chain, it was very difficult to keep it running without interruption for more than twenty to thirty days at a time. In order to have the Supply Chain run consecutively, you had to create or delete product, add trucks, routes, and/or facilities to maneuver the supply chain. After running the simulation, you were able to see where the bottleneck occurred and what needed to change.
Accomplishments
After creating this Supply Chain simulation, the realization set in that the job functions of managers can be a very overwhelming responsibility. They are responsible for getting products from locations,