Recent comments:

Amanda Hudy-Martin said: How do I even start this game?

Gokhan Y said: thank you for free submission. i enjoyed the game, i am currently doing MBA

Mumbi King'ori said: really exciting.. problem comes when trying to predict to know how much to order

Ali Ornek said: good

misan palmer said: this is confusing

Jacqueline Clemons said: Customer order 10 cases, thereafter, order 20 cases, in inventory is 15 finished goods, therefore, 15 orders are back order

Jacqueline Clemons said: customer order 10 cases, thereafter, they order 15 cases which left 5 orders on backorder.

Jacqueline Clemons said: Here is my results to the near beer game

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Near Beer Game

By Michael Bean
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It's called the Near Beer Game because, although it's not identical to the original beer game, it teaches many of the same lessons. It also teaches one extra lesson not in the original game: even with perfect information, even when there are no breakdowns in communication, you'll still feel the bullwhip effect due to procurement and manufacturing delays.

Here's how the Near Beer Game works: at the beginning of the simulation your supply chain is in perfect equilibrium. Customers are ordering ten cases of beer each week, you have ten cases in inventory, ten cases are brewing, and ten cases worth of raw materials are arriving from your vendors. In week two, demand increases to fifteen cases per week and remains at fifteen cases for the remainder of the simulation. The game ends when you manage to get your supply chain back in equilibrium for fifteen cases of beer.

Sounds easy right? Try it out and see how many weeks it takes you. See if you can bring the supply chain back into equilibrium without the bullwhip oscillations of stock-outs followed by over-supply.

Read the article Bullwhips and Beer: Why Supply Chain Management is so Difficult.

About the author

Michael Bean co-founded Forio Business Simulations, a software company specializing in developing web simulations, and leads Forio’s consulting activities. Before Forio, Michael held several senior management posts at simulation consulting and simulation software firms in the United States and Europe. Michael has been exclusively consulting on strategic simulation and decision-support engagements for twenty years.

Michael was also a research associate for the System Dynamics Group at MIT, where he developed simulations that examined the strategic implications of decision-making.

Michael has consulted with corporations and government agencies nationally and internationally on topics including transfer pricing, competitive strategy, emerging technologies, and customer migration. He has conducted scenario planning, systems thinking, and computer simulation seminars to corporations and government agencies worldwide. In addition, Michael has presented at national conferences on systems thinking and computer ...