REPLY Running beer game in 1.5 hours (SD6663)

[SDMAIL Ford, David]

Posted by  "Ford, David" <dford at civil.tamu.edu>

 
I have run the Beer Game in a 75 minute class many times. "Run" in this
case means that the boards, chips, etc are all set up and taken down
outside the 75 minutes and that the debrief happens in the next class,
not in the the 75 minutes. I have gotten more weeks (30 or so) in if I
have the students plot the graphs in the next class as the setup to the
debrief (a good idea) or fewer weeks (25 or so) if they graph them in
the 75 minutes. I assign a ordering-policy focused assignment at the end
of the first ("run") session that is due at the beginning of the debrief
to keep things fresh in their minds and to get them to reflect on the
game in preparation for the debrief. 

I concur that getting the mechanics down in the players is critical to
speed-Beer Gaming. I try to facilitate this by assigning people I am
sure understand English well as the Retailer and poorly at the Factory.
This reduces the size of language-induced mechanical problems. I also
find it easier to monitor the Factory and they have less of a tendancy
to get into discussions with the players on either side of them, which
slows things down. 

I have not found that the number of tables or the number of players in
each position has any significant impact on the speed, assuming you have
a helper with a handful of tables or more. 

Best wishes, 

Dave Ford

***************************************
David N. Ford, Ph.D., P.E.
Associate Professor
Zachry Department of Civil Engineering
Texas A&M University
College Station, Tx 77843-3136  USA
Posted by  "Ford, David" <dford at civil.tamu.edu>
posting date  Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:10:25 -0600