The Dice Line
Five stations, one die each. Expect 70 pieces in 20 days and ship far fewer. Then cut variability, try kanban, unbalance the line and tie a rope, and see which rule gets the output without the pile-up.
What you’ll learn
- Dependency plus variation keeps a balanced line far below the capacity of every station in it.
- Less variation and kanban help, but neither unlocks the line’s potential while it stays balanced.
- Protective capacity lets the stations around the constraint catch up after bad days.
- Drum-Buffer-Rope gets full output with a fraction of the inventory: the constraint sets the pace, a buffer protects it, the rope ties release to it.
Based on the dice games of James R. Holt (Washington State University), used with credit, and the match game in Goldratt’s The Goal.
Learn the ideas behind it
These free lessons use this game. Read the idea, then come back and play.
- The TOC way of production · TOC in Operations – Basic, lesson 4
- The standard solution in one session · TOC in Operations – Advanced, lesson 1
- Is an idle resource a waste? · Operations, as Taught by Eli Goldratt, lesson 4