Supply Chain: The Paper Plane Factory
Each team becomes a factory making paper planes to strict specifications while the teacher, playing a demanding client and a ruthless inspector, keeps changing the rules. Costs rise, defects get rejected, and teams discover lean production the hard way: by drowning in wasted paper.
How to run it
Each team gets a workstation and buys paper from the teacher: 1 sheet = £10 (track spending on the board). The product spec: a paper plane with a pointed nose, symmetrical wings, and the team name written on the left wing. Only planes that fly at least 3 metres when tested count as sellable. Each sellable plane earns £25.
Teams produce as many planes as they can. No other rules. At the end, the teacher tests planes (throw each one once) and inspects for spec. Count revenue vs paper costs on the board. Most teams overproduce, waste paper and fail inspection: perfect.
Read Rule Card 2 (paper price doubles) and Rule Card 3 (quality inspection tightens). Teams must now think before folding. Give them 90 seconds of planning time first: who folds, who checks, who tests?
Read Rule Cards 4 and 5. Introduce the lean idea explicitly: produce only what passes, right first time, no pile of half-folded stock. Teams that assign a quality checker and a test-thrower before mass production start winning here.
Calculate each factory's profit: (sellable planes x £25) minus paper costs and any fines. Debrief: what changed between round 1 and round 3? Draw out the vocabulary: quality control (inspection at the end) vs quality assurance (checking during the process), waste, lean production, just-in-time buying of paper.
🖨 Rule cards (read aloud at the stated moments)
- Rule Card 1 (start): Paper costs £10 per sheet. Sellable planes earn £25. Spec: pointed nose, symmetrical wings, team name on left wing, must fly 3 metres.
- Rule Card 2 (round 2): A global paper shortage! Paper now costs £20 per sheet. Unused sheets cannot be refunded.
- Rule Card 3 (round 2): The client has hired a strict inspector. Any plane with a bent nose, uneven wings or a missing team name is rejected AND earns a £5 disposal fine.
- Rule Card 4 (round 3): The client now wants planes delivered one at a time, only when ordered. The teacher shouts ORDER at random moments; teams have 60 seconds to deliver one perfect plane. Late or faulty delivery = £10 fine.
- Rule Card 5 (round 3): Any team with more than 2 unsold finished planes on their desk at the end pays £5 storage cost per extra plane.
🖨 Inspector's quality checklist
| Check | Pass / Fail |
|---|---|
| Nose comes to a clear point | |
| Wings level and symmetrical when viewed from the front | |
| Team name clearly written on the left wing | |
| Flies at least 3 metres in one test throw | |
| No rips, no extra folds, no crumpling |
🖨 Factory accounts sheet (copy onto the board)
| Team | Sheets bought (£) | Sellable planes (x £25) | Fines (£) | Storage costs (£) | Profit (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variations
- Division of labour round: teams must run a production line where each person may only do one fold before passing the plane on. Compare output and quality with free-for-all production.
- Supplier choice: offer premium paper at £30 that comes pre-marked with fold lines (fewer defects) vs budget paper at £15 that tears easily (teacher rejects 1 in 3 at random).
- Kaizen minute: between rounds, each team must state ONE small improvement to their process out loud before they may buy more paper.
Teacher tips
- Be theatrical as the inspector. Hold planes up to the light, sigh, reject one for a slightly bent nose. The outrage drives the learning.
- Track all money on the board publicly. Watching a rival factory rack up fines is a powerful motivator.
- Photograph the round 1 waste pile and show it during the debrief next to the tidy round 3 desks. That single image is the lean production lesson.
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