Supply chain disruption simulation: the first 48 hours after the fire
Five days of stock, three weeks of orders and three alternative suppliers whose quotes are promises, not facts. Buy information before you buy volume.
- Four decisions at hour 0, 12, 24 and 36, then three weeks play out
- Audit up to two of three alternative suppliers; one is weaker than it looks
- Ration stock across a hospital, a housing co-op, a retailer and more
- Scored on revenue protected, customer trust and the cost of your response
Not sure yet? Try the free 3-round Price War first: no sign-up, about five minutes.
Is there a short simulation for practising a supply chain disruption, such as losing a key supplier?
Supplier Down is a Bodhih Arena micro-simulation of the first 48 hours after your only supplier of a key component has a fire. In four decisions you audit alternatives, choose who to tell, order replacement supply, ration scarce stock and promise a recovery date, then see three weeks play out day by day.
What is Supplier Down?
Supplier Down is a single-player online simulation of a supply chain disruption. You run supply chain at an invented heat-pump controls maker whose single-source module supplier has burned down, leaving five days of stock and three weeks of orders from five customers. Across four 12-hour decisions you buy information, order from alternative suppliers, allocate scarce output and set promises. Suppliers' true reliability and customers' real urgency stay hidden unless you investigate.
Supplier Down at a glance
| Format | Micro-sim, single player |
|---|---|
| Length | About 15 minutes per play |
| Players | One person; every play is a new seeded scenario |
| Devices | Any modern browser on a laptop, tablet or phone |
| Scoring | Scored on the server out of 100, with sub-scores and a debrief |
| Credential | Open Badges 3.0 micro-sim credential at a score of 80 or more, with a public verification page |
| Competencies | Commercial Acumen (SPN.4.5), Stakeholder Management (SPN.2.2), Decision Making (SPN.4.3), Adaptability and Resilience (SPN.5.3) |
| LMS | LTI 1.3 launch from Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard or D2L, with grade passback; usable as a Bodhih pathway stage |
| Price for one person | $12 |
| Price per seat | $12 per seat, volume pricing by seat count |
When the call comes, the first two days decide the next two months
The cheapest quote looks like the answer
Under pressure, a big, cheap, fast-sounding offer is tempting. Quotes are promises, and the supplier that cannot deliver is the one you discover only when its parts fail inspection or arrive a week late.
Stock goes to whoever ordered most, or shouts loudest
Without a deliberate allocation, scarce stock flows to the biggest open orders. The customer who truly cannot be without it, a hospital before winter, may get the least.
Silence feels safer than a hard conversation
Telling customers before you know the full picture feels risky. Then a trade newsletter breaks the story, and the customers who heard it there remember that you did not call.
Here is the situation you walk into
Monday, 06:10. You run supply chain at Ardent Climate Controls, which makes controllers for heat pumps. Sunvale Electronics calls: a fire overnight has shut their only module plant. Every controller you make needs one of their power modules, and for years they have been your only source.
You have 1,500 modules, about five days at your normal rate of 300 a day. Three weeks of orders, 6,300 controllers, sit with five customers: Norrland Housing Co-op, whose retrofit contract carries a late-delivery penalty; Calder Home Stores, which also stocks a rival brand; Brasso Installers, a customer for twelve years; Pellan Hospital Group, replacing ward heating controls before winter; and Zeno Export, which ordered early and in bulk.
Three other suppliers can make a compatible module. Vantor is a mid-sized maker in your region. Hanwell supplies the auto industry: fast, expensive, small batches. Lumio is a large overseas contract manufacturer with by far the cheapest quote. Sunvale will soon give you a restart date. It will sound confident.
5 decisions, one debrief
- STEP 1
Hour 0: information, customers and stock
Send your quality team to audit up to two alternative suppliers (results in 12 hours: real lead time, delivery record and defect rate). Decide whether to tell nobody yet, call your two biggest accounts, or tell all five honestly. Keep shipping as normal, or hold stock for allocation.
- STEP 2
Hour 12: order supply
Order modules from Vantor, Hanwell and Lumio, up to each one's capacity, knowing you pay for them even if Sunvale returns sooner. Decide whether to air-freight 400 or 800 modules from Sunvale's second plant, at a premium, arriving on day 4. Sunvale then gives its restart estimate.
- STEP 3
Hour 24: ration the shortfall
Split your output, in percentages, across the five customers for every day you are short. What you learned from early calls, about who needs every unit and who ordered ahead, is your best guide.
- STEP 4
Hour 36: promise and top up
Pass on Sunvale's date, give your own date with a margin and per-customer dates, or commit to no date and send weekly updates. Optionally add a 1,000-module top-up from one supplier.
- STEP 5
Three weeks later
The 21 days play out: arrivals, failed inspections, days you ran short, when Sunvale really restarted, what each customer received and how much they still trust you.
Who Supplier Down is for
- Supply chain, procurement and purchasing managers. Single-source risk is in every risk register. This lets you rehearse the response, including the commercial and customer side, before you need it.
- Operations and plant leaders. You own the trade-off between cost, output and customer promises when supply fails. The scoring makes each part of that trade-off visible.
- Sales, account and customer service leads. You are the ones who make the calls. The simulation shows what early, honest communication and a realistic promise do to trust when you cannot deliver everything.
- Business continuity teams and MBA students. A fast, numerical scenario for discussing resilience, allocation ethics and decisions under uncertainty, and a good warm-up before a longer tabletop exercise.
Who should skip it
It is a single-player decision exercise, not a live team crisis rehearsal; for that, look at the facilitated Crisis Room.
What you will do in the first hours of the next disruption
The debrief usually shows that the most expensive mistakes were made in hour 0, before a single module had been ordered.
Spend a little on information first
You will audit the suppliers you might depend on and call customers to learn what they really need, before you commit volume.
Spread supply across reliable sources
You will bridge the first gap with the fastest supply, even at a premium, and avoid putting all your volume on one untested quote.
Allocate scarce stock on need and consequence
You will weigh safety, contract penalties and customers at risk of leaving, not only margin or order size, when output is short.
Promise what you can keep
You will treat a failing supplier's restart date as a hope, not a plan, and give customers dates with a margin and a rhythm of updates.
Decide fast with incomplete information
Four decisions in 48 hours, each made before you know the restart date or which supplier is weak: this is decision making under uncertainty and pressure in its plainest form.
Learning goals
- Buy information (audits, customer calls) before committing volume
- Allocate scarce stock on need and consequence, not on margin alone
- Communicate early and promise only what you can keep
Skills practised: Decision making under uncertainty and time pressure, Risk-based sourcing, Prioritising scarce resources, Crisis communication with customers, Strategic thinking about resilience.
Competencies scored
Sub-scores map to the open Bodhih Competency Spine, so results sit beside your other learning records.
What the debrief shows
- Your score out of 100 and three sub-scores: revenue protected, customer trust and cost of the response, each mapped to a Competency Spine skill.
- What happened: revenue protected against the maximum, extra cost, days short, delivery and trust for each customer, and what you told them and promised.
- Behind the curtain: when Sunvale really restarted against what they said, each supplier's real lead time, delivery record and defect rate, and each customer's real urgency.
- What strong players do, and the key concept, time to recover versus time to survive.
Time to recover versus time to survive
Time to recover is how long a failed supplier takes to get back to normal. Time to survive is how long you can keep serving customers without it, using stock and other sources. If recovery takes longer than survival, you need alternatives in place before the gap opens.
Use Supplier Down with a team
Seats are $12 each. Buy up to 25 seats online and assign them from your company admin; above that, or for a facilitated programme or an institution licence, request a quote and we activate your seats after payment.
Warm-up for a continuity or crisis workshop
Have procurement, operations and sales play it separately, then compare allocations. The differences in who got the scarce stock start the right argument.
A stage in an operations or procurement pathway
Add it to a Bodhih learning pathway after a module on supplier risk, so the concept is applied to a live decision within the same week.
Leadership assessment under pressure
Each run is newly seeded, so it works as a short, scored exercise on how a candidate balances cost, customers and information, followed by a conversation about their reasoning.
From your LMS, or as a step towards Crisis Room
Launch through LTI 1.3 from Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard or D2L with scores passed back, compare results on the company leaderboard in Arena points, and follow it with a facilitated Crisis Room session.
Volume pricing
| Seats | Per seat | How to buy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $12 | Online |
| 2 to 10 | $10.80 | Online |
| 11 to 50 | $9.60 | Online up to 25, then quote |
| 51+ | $8.40 | Quote |
Supplier Down compared with a case study or slide-based course
| Compared on | A case study or slide-based course | Supplier Down |
|---|---|---|
| What you know | The case tells you which supplier failed and why. | Quotes are promises; you choose which to audit, and one of three is secretly weak. |
| Customers | Described as a group. | Five named customers with different contracts, margins and real urgency that calls reveal. |
| Timing | Analysed with hindsight. | Four decisions in sequence, each before you know the restart date. |
| Consequences | Discussed in the room. | Twenty-one days simulated: arrivals, failed inspections, shortages, penalties and trust. |
| Feedback | The tutor's view of what should have happened. | A score out of 100, three sub-scores and the hidden truth about every supplier and customer. |
| Where it is weaker | Better for wider supply network design and industry context. | It models one component, one failed supplier and five customers. |
What to pair with Supplier Down
The Business Continuity and Crisis Plan (Pro Kit)
Turn the simulation into a plan: a downtime cost calculator, eight scenario runbooks and 34 crisis messages for your own business.
See the kit →Pro KitThe Purchasing and Vendor Management System (Pro Kit)
The weak supplier hid behind the cheapest quote; this kit's supplier workbook and TCO calculator help you qualify alternatives before a crisis.
See the kit →Pro KitThe Inventory and Warehouse Control Kit (Pro Kit)
Time to survive depends on the stock you hold; the safety stock calculator helps you set buffers for critical single-source parts.
See the kit →AssessAll assessmentStakeholder Management and Influence (AssessAll)
Customer trust carried over a third of your score; this assessment measures how well you get things done through people you do not control.
Take the assessment →Bodhih TrainingCorporate training by Bodhih Training
For procurement and operations teams, pair the simulation with an instructor-led session on supply risk and crisis communication.
Talk to Bodhih Training →Related simulations
How much does Supplier Down cost for one person?
One person can buy Supplier Down online for $12. That covers replays, the debrief and the credential if you score 80 or more. Each simulation is sold separately.
What does it cost for a company or a business school?
Seats are $12 each, with volume tiers by seat count. Up to 25 seats can be bought online. For larger groups, facilitated sessions or an institution licence, request a quote and the seats are activated once agreed.
How long does it take?
About 15 minutes for the four decisions, the three-week outcome and the debrief. Your progress is saved if you need to stop.
What exactly do I get?
The simulation, a score out of 100 with three sub-scores mapped to the Bodhih Competency Spine, a debrief (what happened, why, what strong players do, the key concept and the hidden supplier and customer facts), a company leaderboard place, and a credential at 80 or more.
Can I replay it?
Yes. Each play reseeds which supplier is the weak one, every supplier's real lead time and defect rate, when Sunvale really restarts and how urgently each customer needs stock.
Does it give a credential?
Score 80 or more for a Supplier Down micro-sim credential, issued as an Open Badges 3.0 badge with a public verification page and an Add to LinkedIn button.
What devices can I use?
Any modern web browser on a laptop, tablet or phone, with nothing to install. The supplier and customer tables are easier on a larger screen.
Can we launch it from our LMS?
Yes, via LTI 1.3 from Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, D2L and similar platforms, with the score passed back. It can also be a stage in a Bodhih learning pathway.
Who is it designed for?
Supply chain, procurement and operations managers, sales and account leads who handle customer calls in a shortage, business continuity teams, and MBA students.
How is it different from a supply chain case study or tabletop exercise?
A case looks back at a disruption; a tabletop needs a facilitator and a room. Supplier Down puts one person through the decisions in 15 minutes with hidden information and a calculated outcome. It is a good preparation for a team exercise, not a replacement for one.
What data do you store?
We store your decisions and scores to run the simulation and show your debrief. All companies and numbers are invented. Results stay within your organisation's account. See bodhih.org/privacy.
Can I try first, and what about refunds?
Try the free three-round Price War at /taste-arena, no sign-up, to see how Arena simulations feel. Refund terms are at bodhih.org/refunds.
Rehearse the call before it comes
In 15 minutes you will see how you balance cost, customers and the unknown when your only supplier goes dark. Make your hour-zero calls, ration what you have, and find out how close your promise came to the truth.
Want a feel for Arena first? Play the free 3-round Price War.
- Play it as often as you like for 12 months: every play is a new scenario
- A debrief after each play: what happened, why, and what strong players do
- A verifiable credential when you score 80 or more
- Scored on the server, mapped to the Bodhih Competency Spine
Not sure yet? Try the free 3-round Price War first, no sign-up.
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