The stationary beer game

This paper presents a variant of the popular beer game. We call the new game the stationary beer game, which models the material and information flows in a production-distribution channel serving a stationary market where the customer demands in different periods are independent and identically distributed. Different players, who all know the demand distribution, manage the different stages of the channel. Summarizing the initial experience with the stationary beer game, the paper provides compelling reasons why this game is an effective teaching tool.