The Bicycle Assembly Line Game

‘The Bicycle Assembly Line Game’ is a team-based, in-class activity that helps students develop a basic understanding of continuously operating processes. Each team of 7–10 students selects one of seven prefigured bicycle assembly lines to operate. The lines are run in real-time, and the team that operates the line that yields the highest revenue wins. Students learn through discovery ‘What drives output rate?’; ‘How is capacity managed relative to market demand?’; and ‘Why does inventory accumulate?’ Because task times are constant, the game provides a nice lead-in to the topic of line balancing. This game has been successfully used in both undergraduate- and MBA-level operations management courses.