Last year’s Fresh Connection winner, Mars, has returned to the competition this year with a clear desire to protect its championship title.
The SCALA Fresh Connection challenge, which has been running since 2010, is a competition which pits teams from FMCG companies against one another in a competition to run a virtual company. Teams play six rounds, each representing six months in the lifespan of a company and the team with the healthiest bottom line wins.
“The Mars team are extremely confident going into 2012 SCALA’s Fresh Connection, we’re hoping to retain our winning title,” said Adam Lockwood, Supply Chain Development Manager for Mars Chocolate. “The competition is a lot bigger and diverse then before, but our team aspire to reach the Global Finals again.”
Mars topped the rankings in the 2011 UK Fresh Connection Grand Final, and were also crowned runners-up of the International Finals in Pisa, with the Dutch team from Bavaria Brewery taking first prize. This year they will be up against some of their old opponents as well as new entrants to the competition, such as Cadbury, Unilever, La Palette Rouge and General Mills.
This year’s competition, supported by The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, will again be run online and – new for 2012 – at a series of challenging two-day events at venues across the UK.
The launch of SCALA’s Fresh Connection 2012 will take place at Foodex, the UK show for processing, packaging and logistics, which takes place at the NEC on 25-27 March. Exhibitors will be able to get a flavour of the intense atmosphere as the nation’s top organisations battle it out in the UK’s biggest supply chain and logistics competition.
Does your company have what it takes to knock the confectionary champion from its podium?
Find out more at www.thefreshconnection.co.uk
