Follow the Supply Chain: From Farm to Shelf

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Business and Personal Finance · Business / Marketing / Entrepreneurship
SP-BUS-010 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
Follow the Supply Chain: From Farm to Shelf
Business and Personal Finance · Business / Marketing / Entrepreneurship · Grades 9-11 · 50 minutes
Time needed
50 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student). Calculators are optional.
Technology
Optional: basic calculators.
Student
independence
High. Students work alone.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet, Calculators (optional)
Goal for today: Students will sequence the stages of a supply chain and calculate lead time and inventory shortages
when a delay occurs.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ Calculators are optional.
☐ Keep the answer key on your desk. No business background is needed.
Say this to start
Every product on a store shelf traveled a long way to get there. That path from raw materials to the shopper is called a
supply chain. Today you will follow a made-up trail mix from farms to a store, work out how many days it takes, and
see what happens when one step runs late.
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance. Hand out the worksheet. Read the
vocabulary box aloud.
Follow along.
5–15
Tell students to read the description and complete the
sequencing table.
Put the six steps in order from 1 to 6.
15–25
Tell students to complete the lead-time table and
questions 1–2.
Add days and find the total lead time.
25–40
Tell students to complete questions 3–6 on inventory.
Calculate shortages and reorder levels.
40–46
Read answers aloud from the key. Students fix their work.
Correct mistakes in another color.
46–50
Have students answer questions 7–8 quickly, then collect
the worksheets.
Finish and hand in the worksheet.
If things go wrong
• If students ask what a distributor does: it stores products in bulk and sends them to stores.
• If a student gets 6.7 for question 3: that is correct. It means about 6 and two-thirds days.
• If students get stuck on shortages: demand over the lead time equals bags per day times days.

SubstitutePlans.com
Business and Personal Finance · Business / Marketing / Entrepreneurship
SP-BUS-010 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
• If the room gets loud, move to silent work.
Early finishers
• Draw a simple arrow diagram of the supply chain.
• List three things that could delay a delivery.
• Write how a store could avoid running out of a popular item.
Support and challenge
• Support: Let students use a calculator and work the first two questions together.
• Challenge: Ask students to find how many days of stock the store would need on hand to avoid any shortage
at a 15-day lead time.
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: