Scex wins first-ever SCM Global Pub Quiz

Which movie hero was involved in a lengthy escape from a warehouse? Which military commander was the inventor of modern logistics? And in which city was the kick-off of the SCM Professionals Club held? 36 teams from all over the world puzzled over these and 22 other questions during the SCM Global Pub Quiz. The consultants from Scex won the first prize: 100 licences for the brand-new digital knowledge base called SCM WisDome.

By Marcel te Lindert

Supply Chain Media, the company behind the publications Supply Chain Magazine and Supply Chain Movement, marked its tenth anniversary by organizing the first-ever SCM Global Pub Quiz. Company founder and Chief Trendwatcher Martijn Lofvers (pictured) devised 25 questions that loyal followers should have been able to answer. “Rather than being complicated questions about absorption effects or algorithms, the questions are a little tongue-in-cheek,” explained Lofvers from behind the bar at the DRU Cultuurfabriek venue, the site of a former iron foundry in the Achterhoek region of the Netherlands.

The questions were divided into five categories, such as Movies & Series and Sports & Nature. “Films are a reflection of reality, including of supply chain management reality,” said Lofvers, who is an avid film lover. His first question was about the film Moneyball, which can be seen as revealing insights into how recruitment & selection takes place and how teams are assembled today. Another question concerned the Netflix series Breaking Bad, in which a female supply chain manager is the ‘baddie’. “Sport is relevant because, just as in supply chain management, it’s all about collaboration,” commented Lofvers, who likened sales & operations planning (S&OP) to a relay race. “And we can learn a lot about organizational structures from Mother Nature,” he added.

History of Supply Chain Media

A number of questions related to the history of Supply Chain Media itself, such as: The Supply Chain Start-up Contest is part of which event? Who was the first professional to be ranked number one in the European Top 28 of Supply Chain Executives? And how many internet connections did Supply Chain Media have when it started in 2010? “None,” declared Lofvers as he revealed the answers at the end of the quiz. “We created our very first magazine without a single internet connection. Since then, we’ve evolved from a traditional print publisher into a fully digitalized company.”

When all the answers to the 25 questions had been checked, it became apparent that several teams had the same high score, so a shoot-out was necessary to decide the winner. The question was tricky: How many megabytes of content does SCM WisDome, Supply Chain Media’s brand-new knowledge base, contain? The teams from Efeso Consulting and Young Professionals of Slimstock were too wide of the mark and they ended up in joint second place, both winning 50 SCM WisDome licences. The Scex team was crowned the overall winner of 100 licences and now gains access to the 293.65 megabytes of knowledge on topics such as sales & operations planning, supply chain network design and digitalization.

What about the answers?

If you are wondering about the answers to the above-mentioned questions, here they are:

• The movie hero who escaped from a warehouse is Indiana Jones.
• The military commander who invented modern logistics is Napoleon.
• The first meeting of the SCM Professionals Club took place in London.
• The Supply Chain Start-up Contest is held during the inNOWvate Supply Chain Event.
• The first professional to be ranked number one in the Top 28 of Supply Chain Executives Europe was Pier Luigi Sigismondi.

Missed the SCM Global Pub Quiz 2020?

Take a look at the recordings on the YouTube channel of Supply Chain Movement.