A presentation by Michael D. Ford CFPIM, CSCP, CQA, CRE, CQE, Principal, TQM Works Consulting, USA delivered during the 38th annual SAPICS event for supply chain professionals in Sun City, South Africa.

The Beer Game was developed by Jay Forrester at MIT’s Sloan business school in the early 1960s. It is a simple yet realistic simulator of the supply chain and is used as a teaching tool for systems dynamics. It has been played all over the world by thousands of people ranging from high school students to chief executive officers and government officials. Each participant plays a role in the production and distribution of a product, in this case “beer”.