The Beer Game
Bringing your team together
© GRA 2014
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What is the Beer Game?
The Beer Game is a supply chain simulation that lets the players experience the
pressures of playing a role in a production/distribution simulation to develop their
Supply Chain understanding.
The game is played via a large board game with teams of at least four players. Players move pieces around the board and
determine what they want to make or purchase and how much stock to hold, in a fun and competitive environment.
© GRA 2014
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The Beer Game Origins
The Beer Game was created by a group of
professors at MIT Sloan School of
Management in the early 1960s. It was
developed to demonstrate a number of
supply chain management key principles. It
introduces the players to the concept of the
“bullwhip effect” and how structure produces
behaviour.
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The Bullwhip Effect
The bullwhip effect is a well-known symptom of coordination problems in (traditional)
supply chains. It refers to the trend of larger and larger swings in inventory in response
to changes in demand, the further back through the supply chain you go.
Even in the face of stable customer demand, small variations in demand at the retail/customer end tend to dramatically amplify
upstream in the supply chain when information sharing and collaboration does not exist.
As a consequence of the bullwhip effect, a range of inefficiencies occur throughout the supply chain:
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high (safety) stock levels
poor customer service levels
poor capacity utilisation
aggravated problems with demand forecasting
ultimately high cost and low levels of inter-firm trust
.
© GRA 2014
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What is the Beer Game?
The Beer Game is a fun, interactive session which can help develop understanding
on why supply chain planning is complicated and build engagement around S&OP. It
highlights why structured, cross functional communication is important.
GRA’s experienced facilitators can increase your team’s knowledge and understanding and link the Beer Game’s learning
objectives to a broader program if required. The Beer Game can be used to:
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Improve understanding on how end to end supply chains operate
Create increased buy in for S&OP/IBP rollouts – this can work especially well for
developing non-supply chain department engagement such as Sales & Marketing
departments
Expand your team’s overall Supply Chain knowledge and the part they play
Increase awareness on why cross functional communication is important within
supply chains
Develop the case for Customer & Supplier collaboration
Improve culture and have some fun as a teambuilding exercise
© GRA 2014
© GRA 2014
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Case Study: Beer Game with Chobani
Chobani is the number one selling yoghurt brand in America and launched into the
Australian market in 2011. Chobani purchased Victorian dairy company Bead Foods
(makers of Gippsland Dairy) and built a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in
Dandenong South.
GRA ran the Beer Game for Chobani as part of their Leadership Development Programme. A range of different departments
including Sales, Planning, Procurement, Production, Quality and Logistics participated.
Sarah Hochholzer, People & Culture Manager at Chobani said: “It was a fun, interactive way for the team to get an overview
on how supply chains function and experience firsthand, some of the key issues supply chains face and how to overcome
them.”
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What our clients say about The Beer Game
“
It was a fun, interactive way for
the team to get an overview on
how supply chains function
and experience firsthand,
some of the key issues supply
chains face and how to
overcome them.
Sarah Hochholzer, People & Culture Manager, Chobani
© GRA 2014
© GRA 2014
www.gra.net.au
7
(03) 9421 4611
”