Sim Brothers Pte Ltd is a local enterprise that produces a broad range of creative consumer products. It has a skilled workforce and a flexible manufacturing system that can be adapted to produce different kinds of things. Its flexibility also allows it to take on sub-contracting jobs to produce gadgets and parts for other sellers. Like most other companies, its business tanked severely in 2020 with the onset of COVID-19. It was forced to pivot to the production and sale of many varieties of face masks to keep its business alive.

With the COVID-19 pandemic now tapering off and most parts of the world opening up, Sim Brothers are now faced with another problem. It has huge stocks of face masks that it could not now sell because most countries have done away with mask-wearing mandates. These unsold mask inventories are taking up valuable storage space and represent huge financial losses for the company if they were to be discarded.

Alfred Sim, the CEO of the company, looked grim as he addressed a meeting of senior managers and engineers.