About the Competition

Against the backdrop of deepening integration between globalization and digitalization, supply chains-acting as the core link of the global economy and a critical underpinning for industrial security-are confronting multiple challenges, including geopolitical shifts, extreme weather events, and technological disruptions. Cultivating high-caliber supply chain professionals has thus become a pivotal pathway to drive industrial upgrading. To establish an international platform for exchange and collaboration, facilitate the sharing of cross-border experience, and enhance practitioners’ practical capabilities and resilience management skills, the International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management (IFPSM), in partnership with the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP), will host the 2026 IFPSM International Supply Chain Skills Competition (Sunshine Smart Chain Cup). This competition is a supporting event of the IFPSM World Summit 2026.

Competition Organization

Team Participation Requirements

A total of 50 teams are to be invited to participate in this competition. Team members shall meet the following requirements:

• 1. Possess diverse professional backgrounds covering supply chain management, procurement, logistics, production and other fields, with solid theoretical foundation and professional knowledge in supply chain.
• 2. Have rich practical experience in transnational supply chain business, be familiar with business processes such as international procurement, production outsourcing, logistics and transportation, cross-border e-commerce, and have practical work or project experience.
• 3. Possess a global perspective and cross-cultural communication capabilities, understand the business culture and trade rules of different countries and regions, be able to handle business scenarios under cross-cultural backgrounds, and promote international cooperation and exchange.
• 4. Be proficient in English and able to skillfully operate the English version of the Sunshine Smart Chain (Supply Chain Practical Sandtable) software.

Competition Registration

Registration Deadline: 09:00 GMT, May 31, 2026

Registration Method: Team captains shall complete the Competition Registration Form following the steps below: Fill out and print the form, have it sealed by the recommending association, and then send the PDF scanned copy to zhengyf@chinascm.org.cn for review.

Once the review is approved by the organizer, the participating account will be issued, allowing the team to start training and attend relevant sessions.

Entry Fee: 400 Euros per team, including platform usage fee, training fee, trophies, certificates and other operation costs. Costs such as equipment purchase and network traffic incurred during the Competition shall be borne by the participating teams themselves.

Remittance Method: The entry fee of each participating team shall be summarized and remitted to IFPSM by their recommending association in a unified manner.

Competition Content

The English version of Sunshine Smart Chain (Supply Chain Practical Sandtable) will be uniformly used as the competition platform. Participants will log in to the designated competition platform with their competition accounts to simulate the entire supply chain operation of a solar panel manufacturing enterprise. The simulated operation cycle is one year, starting from the virtual start date set by the platform, with one day advancing every 30 seconds. After the competition starts, participants can perform operations such as shareholder capital increase, market bidding, factory location selection, production management, capacity upgrading, quality improvement, supplier agreement signing, raw material procurement, warehousing management, and distribution management. Before the start of the competition, participants will have 15 minutes of operation planning time, mainly for market analysis, customer analysis, supplier analysis, regional supporting analysis, etc., to determine the overall idea of supply chain operation. During the competition, there will be a 5-minute suspension after each quarter. After all quarters are completed, the system will automatically score according to various indicators.

Competition Schedule

Competition Awards