Beer Run
Goal You run the shop. Keep the shelves full, and don't make the factory panic.
Three questions
- On level 2 demand jumps once and then stays put. How many weeks did your orders take to settle, and what did the factory do meanwhile?
- Sharing shop sales (POS) calmed the factory on level 3. Why does seeing real customer sales help stages that never meet a customer?
- When your shelf looked low you ordered extra. Where did those extra crates turn up two weeks later, and what did they do to the next order upstream?
Real world Lee, Padmanabhan and Whang (1997) described order swings at P&G for Pampers while consumer demand was steady.
Read next My essay · Lee, Padmanabhan & Whang, Sloan Management Review, 1997