The Root Beer Game Simulation

John Doe
TUI University
ITM 436 Operations Mgmt and Operations Sys.
John Doe, Ph.D.

What I learn about supply chain management during this tutorial? Successful supply chain management is significant to the survival of today’s business. To review supply chain strategies and evaluate proposed changes that impact the business as a hole, supply chain managers should be able to assertively predict their network’s performance under a range of conditions. This apparently impossible task has urged a search for better software to help decision makers analyze the design and operation of their supply chain. Computer simulations have become the tool of choice. Since simulation capture real world system variability, a simulation program helps managers to better understand the supply chain as it presently exists. Most significantly, a simulation gives planners a realistic view of what will happen in their supply chain under conditions that do not currently exist, but might take place.
The tutorial presented a distribution network for a root beer beverage. The simulation starts in week 16 of the inventory with 170,000 cases of root beer on backlog. Having product cases on inventory or backlog will add additional expenses to the company (inventory $.50/bottle and Backlog costs $1/bottle). The business objectives include reducing inventory and backlog cost. The simulation project provides managers a tool for supporting strategic supply chain decisions. The simulation system is used by the managers to identify the best way to react to delays and estimating the impact of such delays witch I was never able to reduce no matter how many times I try it.
The simulation has the capability to track and report bottlenecks as they move around the distribution network. In addition the simulation can also track inventory, backlog new orders, weekly