[pclmulqdq]

I wrote a paper on what we thought was the optimal strategy for the beer game. My team won a beer game session run at the system dynamics society conference about 10 years ago.

1. Push all the inventory to the end of the supply chain (the retailer).

2. Run the inside of the supply chain on a "pass-through" strategy - order exactly what is known to be coming down the supply chain on that turn.

3. Use a control algorithm based on the outflows from the retailer to control production at the factory (the factory player has to watch the retailer's inventory closely). The best parameters for the control system depend on the exact demand deck.

[hef19898]

Which is exactly what modern supply chain management tries to do. On a more complex level so, but the basic idea is the same.