Game On: A New Tool for Supply-Chain Simulation

Can playing a game help supply-chain managers cope with the uncertainties of the real world? Experts would say yes. As far back as the early 1960s, professors at MIT's Sloan School of Management developed the Beer Game, which despite its frat-friendly name was a sober attempt to demonstrate the principles of supply-chain management. Since then, academics and practitioners have developed a number of so-called ''serious'' games and simulations to address the complexities involved in achieving the proper balance between supply and demand. The latest version is SCI Impact, developed by Sterling Simulation in partnership with Supply Chain Insights. It extends the concept of the Beer Game to encapsulate the realities of entire supply chains. Pairs of teams compete to see who can dictate the most effective inventory and ordering policies in response to shifts in demand. On this episode, we get an introduction to SCI Impact from Paul Rohrbaugh, president of Sterling Simulation. He talks about the history of gamification in supply-chain management, what his new game hopes to accomplish, and how it might evolve in future.