Batch Switching Supplier

This new feature intends to reduce micromanagement by allowing you to order your firms to batch switching suppliers in the following way:

“All purchasing units in all of my retail/factories/warehouses/all (selectable) that are buying from source X must change to buying from source Y“

Example
Let’s say you want to redirect all of your retail stores currently buying Cold Pills from source X to Headache Pill from source Y.

Step 1
Go to a purchasing unit in any of your retail stores currently buying Cold Pills and click the [Link] button to open the Select Supplier window.

Step 2
Select Headache Pills and click the [Batch] button, for batch switching supplier.

From Capitalism Lab version 12, the [Batch] button offers two options that decide which firms the change reaches. See New Batch Options in Version 12 below.

Step 3
The game automatically opens the Firm Report. You can use the City and Firm Type filter controls at the top of the screen to modify the current firm list. Then click [Batch Switching Supplier] at the bottom of the screen to apply the change to all the firms in the current list.

It will display a message confirming the number of purchasing units that have been linked to the new supplier.

Step 4

View your retail stores and you will see that they are now buying Headache Pill from the new supplier.

Step 5
If you still have some old stock of Cold Pills at your Sale Unit that are selling at a really slow rate, and you want to put the Headache Pill on the retail shelf immediately, you may click [Clear Stock] on the Sale Unit to discard the remaining stock of Cold Pills.

New Batch Options in Version 12

Starting from Capitalism Lab version 12, two options are available when you batch switch suppliers. They differ in how widely the change is applied.

Switch Supplier – Same Supplier
Apply the same supplier change to all firms that currently use the same supplier.

Switch Supplier – Same Product
Apply the same supplier change to all firms that purchase the same product, regardless of which supplier they currently buy from.

Batch Switching Supplier: the Same Supplier and Same Product options

Example
Suppose you have 4 department stores buying jeans from two different third-party suppliers. After launching your own brand of jeans, you want all of your stores to switch to purchasing your brand instead. With Switch Supplier – Same Product, you can make this change in one step.

In previous versions this would have taken two separate passes, because the jeans were being sourced from two different suppliers.