FAQs
Answers to frequently asked questions – FAQs
SIX COMMON CAUSES OF CONFUSION… PLEASE READ!
1. SCM Globe runs best under two browsers – Chrome and Safari. It will also run under Firefox, but sometimes it runs slowly under Firefox. And it DOES NOT run under Microsoft Internet Explorer. You can download a free copy of the Chrome or Firefox browsers by going to the websites of those browser makers.
If Microsoft is your regular browser, Chrome and Firefox co-exist well with Microsoft. You can use Chrome or Firefox when working with SCM Globe. And you can return to the Microsoft browser for other tasks.
One of those features is triggered when you download simulation results from SCM Globe to your PC. In the Firefox browser when you click on the “Export Results to Excel” button it will cause Firefox to open a dialog box. The dialog box will ask “What should Firefox do with this file?” There are two options: 1) Open with; or 2) Save File. Select “Save File”. The simulation data will then download as a data file to your PC in whatever folder you use for downloading from the Internet. The file will be something called an “octet-stream” instead of a .csv file.
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Unlike a .csv file, you cannot open this file unless you open it from within your spreadsheet application. So open up your spreadsheet application (MS Excel, Apple Numbers, Google Sheets, etc.) and then open the simulation data file that you just downloaded. It will open correctly inside your spreadsheet application. 2. When you make changes to your supply chain model in the EDIT screen it does not automatically update the SIMULATION screen until you click the browser refresh button or the “Reload Supply Chain” button on the SIMULATION screen. Most of the time you make changes to the model (products, facilities, vehicles, routes) in the EDIT screen, then go to the SIMULATION screen and click “Reload Supply Chain” and play the simulation. However, if you click “Reload Supply Chain” but then go back to the EDIT screen before playing the simulation and make more changes, you need to click browser refresh on the SIMULATION screen to update the simulation with those additional changes. Do this before you click the “Play” button to start the simulation.
Sometimes on the EDIT screen you may also notice that new facilities, or vehicles or route changes you make do not immediately update onscreen. If that occurs just click the browser refresh button to see those changes – when in doubt click browser refresh. 3. Delivery vehicles occasionally miss deliveries, and simulation results can vary. The frequency of missed deliveries depends on the frequency of deliveries and the time it takes for a vehicle to travel its delivery route. More frequent deliveries made by vehicles traveling on longer routes result in higher rates of missed deliveries (just like in the real world). Because of missed deliveries it is necessary to keep “safety stock” inventory at facilities (just like in the real world) to keep them going when this occurs. And sometimes there will even be two deliveries made when only one was scheduled; that means you need to keep a bit of extra storage space at facilities to handle unexpected deliveries. See a full explanation on the page titled “Delivery Schedules Do Not Always Work Perfectly”. You will also notice your simulation results do not always match exactly with results of others working on the same case study. The more adjustments and changes you make to your supply chain model (even very small ones), the more your results will differ from others who do similar but not exactly identical things to their models. Learn more about this on the page titled “Butterfly Effect“. 4. As you work on larger and more complex supply chains you will notice a slowdown in response time. SCM Globe runs partly on our servers and partly in the browser on your PC or laptop or tablet. Response time is affected by everything from the speed of your Internet connection to the power of your PC. SCM Globe runs best on newer computers with more memory and fast Internet connections. When you reload a supply chain or refresh your EDIT or SIMULATION screen, wait for the entire supply chain to finish drawing on the screen before clicking on other buttons. See more ideas for speeding up your simulations here: SPEED UP – UNFREEZE – DEBUG Your Simulations 5. “Day 0” calculations start a simulation – There are initial calculations made by the simulation engine that affect beginning amounts of on-hand inventory for some products at some facilities. These initial calculations create the “Day 0″ starting point for the supply chain at the beginning of a simulation. On Day 0 the facilities that have daily demand for a product have that daily demand amount subtracted from their on-hand inventory of that product. Also if there are routes originating at a facility where products are picked up from other facilities and returned to the that facility, then the amount(s) of picked up product(s) are added to on-hand inventory at that facility. Normally, you do not need to worry about these Day 0 calculations. But if you need to compensate for these initial calculations, then read more about how to do that in the online guide section titled “Tips for Building Supply Chain Models” 6. You have to assign a product to a facility before you can deliver that product to a facility – If you are setting up a route and can’t deliver a particular product to a particular facility because you don’t see it in the drop down box for that facility, then you have to go back to the facility (in the Facility menu) and assign that product to the facility. You can only deliver products that are already assigned to a facility. To assign a product to a facility, you add the product to the facility and give it an on-hand amount, and/or amounts for production per day and demand per day. Any or all of these amounts can be set to zero. KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER
 To sign in at www.scmglobe.com you must always use the same email address you registered with.
 Once you have run the simulation by clicking the “Simulation” button, you will have two browser tabs open – one for editing, and one for simulation. Flip back and forth between these two tabs. Avoid opening additional browser tabs by just clicking on these two existing browser tabs to navigate back and forth between editing your supply chain model and simulating its operation.
 When you add new data or edit existing data for products, facilities, vehicles, and routes, always click the “Update” or “Save” button in the lower right corner of the data entry dialog boxes.
 After making changes to a supply chain model in the Edit screen, go to the the Simulation screen and click the browser refresh button or the “Reload Supply Chain” button to synchronize those changes with the simulation screen before running a new simulation.
 Close all browser tabs except the tabs for SCM Globe edit screen and simulation screen (and the tab for this online guide if needed). Having lots of other browser tabs open will cause simulations to run slowly.
 Learn about working with case studies here: How to Work with Case Studies
 Watch the short training videos and look through the “Getting Started” section of this online guide. In 30 – 60 minutes you will know enough to get started, and you can learn the rest as you go
 Share your supply chain models with other SCM Globe users; see ““Download and Share Supply Chain Models” A KNOWN BUG IN EDITING ROUTES — When entering stops and drop quantities on a delivery route there may occur a duplication of delivery quantities for products to facilities, and a duplication of the facilities themselves. You will see this in the dialog box for the route you are working on. An example of this is shown in the screenshot below. This does not happen often. But if it does, do not attempt to fix the damaged route, just delete the route where it happens and then re-create the route. (click on image to see larger picture)
IF YOU ENCOUNTER A PROBLEM — that is not answered by these FAQs, please contact info@scmglobe.com with a description of the problem and attach a copy of your supply chain model so we can load your supply chain model and investigate your problem. To attach a copy of your model read the instructions to Download and Share Supply Chain Models