Simulation is widely used in supply chain management. For instance, it is employed to support strategic, tactical and operational decisions, to validate new methods, to demonstrate efficiency of taken decisions, and to support education and training. The paper discusses experiences in using simulation, gained within implementation of the European research project ECLIPS that addresses the state-of-the-art in supply chain management. It is aimed at minimization of total inventories through the whole supply chain, taking into account a product lifecycle from its market introduction through the maturity phase to end-of-life. In order to achieve this goal, simulation is extensively used in the ECLIPS project. In particular, it supports supply chain management processes (e.g., optimization and decision making) thus providing conditions for minimization of inventories. At the same time, simulation provides a platform for testing algorithms developed within the project, as well as allows efficient training in application of the developed methods.