The Red and Yellow Machine lived up to their name and came out on top in the first stage of the supply chain simulation competition The Fresh Connection.

The DHL team finished ahead of AB World Foods and Unilever in a training event held to prepare teams to compete in the global competition against more than 100 teams from 30 countries.

And the winners certainly showed some fresh thinking by seriously discussing strategy within 10 minutes of the event starting - no team has ever got to grips with the simulation so quickly!

Also taking part were companies such Collect+, Kimberly-Clark, Mondelez and Norbert Dentressangle, with previous UK winners including La Palette Rouge and Mars.

This is the first year that the UK organisers, SCALA Consulting, have held a training stage. Managing director, John Perry, said the aim was to improve the chances of a British team winning the global title:

“It’s disappointing that we are yet to win the International Finals when you consider the quality of the supply chains in the UK” he explained.

The Fresh Connection is a global professional challenge in which teams have to steer a juice manufacturing company through a series of business challenges – such as dealing with the effects of piracy, breakdowns, product defects and penalty charges.

The UK winners will fly to Amsterdam in September to compete against the top teams in the world, with the global prize being a place on a prestigious executive course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, USA.

The UK event is sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, the Food Storage and Distribution Federation and Toyota MHE.

There is still time for companies to enter teams into this year’s competition - for further information call 01484 437 486 or contact jade.kelly@scalagroup.co.uk