Meeting/Event Information

What Is The Beer Game?

The Beer Distribution Game (The Beer Game) is a simulation game created by a group of professors at MIT Sloan School of Management in early 1960s as part of Jay Forrester’s research on industrial dynamics. The purpose is to clarify the advantages of taking an integrated approach to managing the supply chain; it particularly demonstrates the value of sharing information across the various supply chain components. The game portrays the production and distribution of beer through a supply chain.

What Will You Experience By Participating in The Beer Game?

Participants are responsible for meeting demand for Lewis' Beer through its supply chain consisting of four sectors: Retailer, Wholesaler, Distributor, and the Lewis' Brewery. Participants will be engaged in one of these sectors trying to maximize their operations. Each player has good local information, but limited global information. Players keep records of their inventory, backlog, and orders placed with their supplier each week. Acting independently, players realize that their success is ultimately dependent upon their upstream and downstream supply chain partners. Participants learn that by coordinating information among supply chain partners increases supply chain throughput; thereby, creating lower inventories and greater cash flow for each partner.

The traditional Beer Game experience has supply chain partners with unlimited capacity. In this Theory of Constraints (TOC) version, participants operate in the real world where their ability to operate in a supply chain is impacted by both dependent and independent variability. Based on statistical variation (Six Sigma), each player rolls the dice to determine what they are capable of producing that day. The game is deceptively simple. All you have to do is meet customer demand and order enough from your supplier to keep your inventory low while avoiding costly backlogs. Yet the results are surprising!

Lessons Learned From The Beer Game?

The structure of a system influences behavior. Systems cause their own problems, not external forces or individual errors.

• Supply Chain Partners focus on their own decisions and ignore how these decisions affect others.
• Partners do not understand how their actions affect others, so they blame each other for problems.
• The problems build gradually, so companies don't realize there is a problem until it’s too late.
• Manufacturers learn that an integrated approach to supply chain management benefits all partners.

This is a great exercise to develop team building skills while gaining awareness of key principles in supply chain management!

Seating is Limited! We can provide additional dates to accommodate interested parties. For larger groups, this exercise can be provided on-site at your facility.

Information and Registration

Date: Thursday, July 25th
Time: 4:30pm - 7:30pm
Location: Heavy Seas Brewery

4615 Hollins Ferry Rd, #A

Halethorpe, Md 21227
Cost: $79 per person/$69 for Members
Heavy Appetizers will be provided and there is a cash bar.


Agenda
4:30 - 5:00: Registration and Networking
5:00 - 5:45: Round One of The Beer Game
5:45 - 6:30: Round Two of The Beer Game
6:30 - 7:00: Round Three of The Beer Game
7:00 - 7:30 (or so): Wrap up and Networking

For Additional Information Contact:
Todd N. Sabin, CPIM, CSCP
APICS Master Instructor
Phone: 443-600-9159
Email: [email protected]