Would you like some wine? Introducing variants to the beer game

Abstract

The beer game is a well-known simulation game in industry to demonstrate the bullwhip effect. With slight modifications, it is possible to also model and teach additional effects of supply chains, as for example the different countermeasures like pull, but also to an extent, better communication and reduced replenishment time. It can also model the increased fluctuations due to the introduction of additional variants besides beer and its impact on the necessary inventories. Last but not least, it can serve to demonstrate an often-overlooked point in levelling where the supply chain needs to retain at least a minimum of flexibility for levelling. We developed an extended beer game that consists of nine different games and can be performed as a two-day workshop.

Keywords:

• Beer game
• variants
• levelling
• fluctuations
• replenishment time

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christoph Roser

Prof. Dr. Christoph Roser is an expert for lean production; Toyota, McKinsey, and Bosch Alumni; and professor for Production Management at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. He is interested in everything related to lean manufacturing, bottleneck detection and management, as well as historic developments of manufacturing. He blogs about his experiences and research on AllAboutLean.com and published his first book ‘Faster, Better, Cheaper’ on the history of manufacturing.

Mizuho Sato

Mizuho Sato is an associate professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture. She has obtained a license, National Registered Dietician in Japanese Government and Ph.D. in System Design Management in Keio University. Her research topic is Global food supply chain management and food waste issue. She creates food waste games and focuses on consumer education.

Masaru Nakano

Masaru Nakano is a professor in the Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University, Japan. He was a principal researcher at Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc. before joining Keio in 2008. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Kyoto University, and a PhD in Engineering from the Nagoya Institute of Technology in operations research and management science. He was a visiting professor at ETH Zurich in 2013. His current research focuses on business systems design, sustainable city design, sustainable manufacturing and system design of flying car. He is a member of the IFIP, CESUN, and JSME, etc.