Playing the Beer Game Using Reinforcement Learning

The beer game is a widely used in-class game that is played in supply chain management classes to demonstrate a phenomenon known as the bullwhip effect. The game consists of a serial supply chain network with four players--a retailer, a wholesaler, a distributor, and a manufacturer. In each period of the game, the retailer experiences a random demand from customers. Then the four players each decide how much inventory of "beer" to order. The retailer orders from the wholesaler, the wholesaler orders from the distributor, the distributor from the manufacturer, and the manufacturer orders from an external supplier that is not a player in the game.