How the DDBrix Game Improves Understanding of Demand Driven Planning for Enterprises

Making the shift to Demand Driven doesn’t have to be a struggle. In fact, you can get your entire company on board with DDMRP and strengthen your team’s connections by playing a game. Work and play go hand-in-hand during DDBrix workshops. These interactive training experiences offer an opportunity to simulate the Demand Driven planning sequence in a low-stakes environment.

Patrick Rigoni regularly leads groups of high achieving supply chain professionals and their team members in day-long DDBrix sessions. As an experienced consultant and Demand Driven Institute master instructor, his deep knowledge of the field makes him adept at training others in the art and science of DDMRP.

Rather than spending weeks or months in lectures hearing about the theory of Demand Driven, participants are placed right in the driver’s seat at the start of a DDBrix workshop. This translates to turbo-charged learning. Making sense of the methodology is as simple as rolling up your sleeves and putting the theory into practice.

Let’s explore how DDBrix brings Demand Driven to life and why it’s the number one way to develop the confidence and skills necessary for success with DDMRP. 

How It Works

The workshop brings together one or multiple teams of 8-16 individuals from all across the company landscape – the boardroom to the factory floor. That means human resources professionals sit side-by-side with the finance team and the folks from quality assurance. Say goodbye to those silos: Everyone is welcome to attend DDBrix.

At the start of the day, participants are divided into teams and assigned specific roles within the supply chain. That means Sara from the marketing team might become a supplier, while John from the IT department could become the team scheduler. The point is to try on different hats throughout the game and to hone a variety of skill sets, all while visualizing DDMRP in action from every angle. Fostering empathy across teams and departments is just a bonus.

How do the Legos come into play? It’s simple. These building blocks form the foundation of a simulated supply chain. Individuals can apply DDMRP principles as they create batches of inventory that travel along the Lego supply chain. At first, they may encounter errors and experience the frustration of a mismatch in supply and demand. Fortunately, it’s just a game – and solutions to these snags are literally at your fingertips. 

The DDMRP Process

To understand how DDBrix works, let’s briefly review the five-step sequence that’s essential to Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning.

• Strategic Decoupling 
• Buffer Profiles & Levels
• Dynamic Adjustments
• Demand Driven Planning
• Visible and Collaborative Execution

Implementing this sequence, supply chain planners can expect a shorter planning horizon and lead time, superior customer service, reduced inventory, and a general optimization of costs. DDMRP involves building in shock absorption points throughout the supply chain, fostering resilience and ensuring fluxes in the market won’t send your company into a tailspin. Flexibility is integral to Demand Driven planning.

Highly accurate supply orders are possible thanks to an abbreviated planning horizon, real-time management, and use of a Net Flow Equation. When teams engage in a DDBrix workshop, they have the chance to put all the pieces of the Demand Driven puzzle together and watch the magic unfold. As they move through the sequence, participants track Key Performance Indicators and can visualize both quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of DDMRP.

Learning Meets Fun

The beauty of the DDBrix experience is that it blends an incredible opportunity to master crucial supply chain planning skills while having a blast. It’s not uncommon for people to report learning more during one DDBrix workshop than from hours of theoretical lectures. And let’s face it: Those lectures aren’t nearly as enjoyable as gathering around a pile of Legos with your colleagues.

When you join Demand Driven expert Patrick Rigoni for a DDBrix session, you can expect to walk away with concrete skills that will prove invaluable as your company confronts an increasingly turbulent global economic climate. No matter what the next year has in store for our world and your company, it’s safe to say you’ll be well prepared to face it with DDMRP.

Developing the confidence to apply for the Position, Protect, Pull sequence is a matter of learning through experience. The best way to do that? Sign up your team for Patrick Rigoni’s DDBrix workshop and optimize your supply chain planning skills.  

Contact Patrick Rigoni today to register your team for a high-impact DDBRIX WORKSHOP!

Download the DDBRIX WORKSHOP Brochure from Patrick Rigoni and check out the latest packs that fit your team and your company!