Dice game: production simulation
A five-station production line, run with dice. Roll, watch jobs move and pile up, then find out why one slow station decides what the whole plant ships.
Play now What the dice mean ↓What the dice mean
The game is a model of a real plant. Every piece stands for something you see on the floor.
One die = one work station
Each round, every station rolls. The number is how many jobs it can finish this round.
The roll changes every round
That’s everyday variation: a breakdown, a missing operator, a long setup, a late part, a quality hold. Every plant has it.
Weld is the bottleneck
It rolls a smaller die, 1 to 4. It averages 2.5 jobs a round against 3.5 for every other station, so it limits what the line can ship.
Squares are jobs
A job moves on only after the station before it finishes it. A high roll is wasted if nothing is waiting. That capacity is gone.
Release whatever the first station can take
The way most plants run: keep every machine busy and start work as soon as there’s room.
Release at the bottleneck’s pace
New jobs start only to keep a small buffer of 6 jobs waiting at or before Weld. The bottleneck is the drum, the 6 jobs are the buffer, and the release rule is the rope.
Run the line
Pick a rule. Roll one round at a time, or play all 20. Then compare push and pull on exactly the same dice.
A simulation with random dice, for illustration. It is not plant data. Weld rolls 1–4 and the other stations roll 1–6. Pull keeps 6 jobs waiting at or before Weld. Lead time is estimated as work in process ÷ jobs shipped per round.
Three lessons from twenty rounds
The bottleneck sets output
Under either rule, the line ships about what Weld can do. Pushing more work in doesn’t ship more.
Push buries the floor
Under push, jobs pile up in front of Weld. Every extra job waiting makes every order take longer.
Pull protects the bottleneck
A small buffer keeps Weld busy, and release at its pace keeps work in process low. That’s drum-buffer-rope.
Drum-buffer-rope, explained
How plants run the pull rule for real, with buffers in green, amber and red.
Read the guide → Free templateBottleneck scheduling board
Release dates and buffer status in Excel. Ready to use tomorrow.
Get the template → Free toolIs this your plant?
Ten questions, with an instant read on whether a bottleneck is holding you back.
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