Today, i played Beer Game simulation.
I was with my senior manager being the Distributor.
It's kinda a bit 'pressured' since she kept talking about 'controlling' inventory level.
We only build per order and kept a little buffer for stock..
It seemed like the factory did not give the right inventory to us.
Somewhat, it's always negative backlog. I don't believe it.... How can ler?
And, the trainer gave us 12 chips as the BOH, but from the website, it should be 16?
http://www.beergame.lim.ethz.ch/
The Beer Game is a simulation, in which the players are faced with the following scenario:
The retailer sells barrels of beer to a consumer and orders barrels of beer from the wholesaler, the wholesaler sells barrels of beer to the retailer and orders barrels of beer from the distributor and the distributor sells barrels of beer to the wholesaler and orders beer from the factory (brewery). The factory brews the beer. The beer supply chain is shown above
Players of the game each take on a different role in the supply chain. The roles are the Factory, Distributor,Wholesaler and Retailer. Each position is directly linked, and beer cannot skip the adjacent position. For example, the Wholesaler orders beer from the Distributor, and ships beer to the Retailer.
An important consideration in making decisions is the delay in the movement of beer through the supply chain. It takes four periods to move an order of beer between each player in the supply chain. If during period 3 the Retailer orders some beer, the order arrives at period 4 at the Wholesaler, is in transport between the Wholesaler and Retailer at period 5 and arrives at goods receiving at period 6 and IS available to sell (or in stock) at period 7
For each period of play, every participant follows the same cycle:
1.) The system is updated by the computer where new orders and shipments are received, shipments enroute are advanced, and inventory levels and backorder positions are calculated
2.) The player makes a ordering decision subject to the information available (new orders and inventory)
There are only two costs involved in this simplified version of a logistic supply chain: inventory holding cost ($ 0.50 per barrel and period) and back order costs ($ 1.- per barrel and period) Each team has the goal of minimizing the sum of these costs by balancing the cost of having stock (stock holding cost) with the cost of being out of stock when a customer orders beer (back order cost). The computer keeps track of the costs incurred by each team. At the end of the game, the total game costs for the distribution system is the sum of the four individual participant's total costs.
THE GOAL IS TO MINIMIZE TEAM COSTS
*** Action ***
The game begins with fully-loaded "pipeline" of barrels of beer:
- 16 barrels of beer in each position's stock
- 4 barrels of beer in each position's goods receiving
- 4 barrels of beer in each position's shipping delay
- each position has an initial order for 4 barrels of beer
Each player has a signal to show his status:
- Red means not available or gone
- Yellow means not ready or not yet ordered
- Green means ready or order performed
At the beginning of each new round all signals are set to Yellow
*** Definitions ***
Orders received
This is the demand vor the current period at this position. For the Retailer the demand is determined by the Computer itself. For all positions, this demand reflects an order placed by the downstream position in the supply chain during the previous period.
Backlog
This is the demand that has not been met to date at this position. When a position does not meet demand by shipping barrels of beer, the backlog amount is increased.
Current costs
This is the total cumulative costs for the position
Order
This is the field to insert the order for the actual round for each position
Remaining time
This is the time remaining to order in one period. If no order is made, the computer makes an order for the concerned player
I was with my senior manager being the Distributor.
It's kinda a bit 'pressured' since she kept talking about 'controlling' inventory level.
We only build per order and kept a little buffer for stock..
It seemed like the factory did not give the right inventory to us.
Somewhat, it's always negative backlog. I don't believe it.... How can ler?
And, the trainer gave us 12 chips as the BOH, but from the website, it should be 16?
http://www.beergame.lim.ethz.ch/
The Beer Game is a simulation, in which the players are faced with the following scenario:
The retailer sells barrels of beer to a consumer and orders barrels of beer from the wholesaler, the wholesaler sells barrels of beer to the retailer and orders barrels of beer from the distributor and the distributor sells barrels of beer to the wholesaler and orders beer from the factory (brewery). The factory brews the beer. The beer supply chain is shown above
Players of the game each take on a different role in the supply chain. The roles are the Factory, Distributor,Wholesaler and Retailer. Each position is directly linked, and beer cannot skip the adjacent position. For example, the Wholesaler orders beer from the Distributor, and ships beer to the Retailer.
An important consideration in making decisions is the delay in the movement of beer through the supply chain. It takes four periods to move an order of beer between each player in the supply chain. If during period 3 the Retailer orders some beer, the order arrives at period 4 at the Wholesaler, is in transport between the Wholesaler and Retailer at period 5 and arrives at goods receiving at period 6 and IS available to sell (or in stock) at period 7
For each period of play, every participant follows the same cycle:
1.) The system is updated by the computer where new orders and shipments are received, shipments enroute are advanced, and inventory levels and backorder positions are calculated
2.) The player makes a ordering decision subject to the information available (new orders and inventory)
There are only two costs involved in this simplified version of a logistic supply chain: inventory holding cost ($ 0.50 per barrel and period) and back order costs ($ 1.- per barrel and period) Each team has the goal of minimizing the sum of these costs by balancing the cost of having stock (stock holding cost) with the cost of being out of stock when a customer orders beer (back order cost). The computer keeps track of the costs incurred by each team. At the end of the game, the total game costs for the distribution system is the sum of the four individual participant's total costs.
THE GOAL IS TO MINIMIZE TEAM COSTS
*** Action ***
The game begins with fully-loaded "pipeline" of barrels of beer:
- 16 barrels of beer in each position's stock
- 4 barrels of beer in each position's goods receiving
- 4 barrels of beer in each position's shipping delay
- each position has an initial order for 4 barrels of beer
Each player has a signal to show his status:
- Red means not available or gone
- Yellow means not ready or not yet ordered
- Green means ready or order performed
At the beginning of each new round all signals are set to Yellow
*** Definitions ***
Orders received
This is the demand vor the current period at this position. For the Retailer the demand is determined by the Computer itself. For all positions, this demand reflects an order placed by the downstream position in the supply chain during the previous period.
Backlog
This is the demand that has not been met to date at this position. When a position does not meet demand by shipping barrels of beer, the backlog amount is increased.
Current costs
This is the total cumulative costs for the position
Order
This is the field to insert the order for the actual round for each position
Remaining time
This is the time remaining to order in one period. If no order is made, the computer makes an order for the concerned player
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