From Stronghold:
Stronghold Games is proud to announce a major 2014 hobby board game release, Kanban: Automotive Revolution, an interactive resource management and economic strategy game, showcasing the automobile manufacturing process that introduced revolutionary efficiencies during the 1970s and is still in practice today.
The term Kanban comes from a scheduling system for lean and just-in-time (JIT) production. This system was first adopted by Japanese automobile manufacturing, leading to a revolution in the automobile industry, enabling great cost reduction via efficiency and automation. Kanban and other systems like it have now transformed manufacturing in every country, modernizing the automotive industry around the world.
In Kanban: Automotive Revolution, players represent ambitious workers in an automobile manufacturing facility. You will work to impress the company’s management team, including the factory manager, CEO and board of directors via execution of an efficient manufacturing process. Managing of logistics and supplies, designing innovative technology enhancements, and exercising good judgement in the projects undertaken are crucial to your success and promotion within the company. KanBan is a game with multiple paths to victory that will reward strategic planning and timely execution.
Like the process itself, Kanban: Automotive Revolution will prove to be both innovative and rewarding. Game mechanics, which are tightly tied to the automobile manufacturing theme, include:
• The factory manager, a game driven non-player character with two modes of play (“nice” or “mean”), offers a friendly or more competitive gameplay environment.
• Two independent player-influenced game timers, the factory production cycle and work week clock, provide timing tension to the game, trigger intermediate scoring phases, and factor into the game end conditions.
• A simulation of the factory assembly line with spatial point-to-point movement adds an element to the game that requires optimal timing.
• A design and innovation department, leveraged to manipulate the value of the various car models and component upgrades produced within the factory, drives the economy of the game.
• Departmental training and certification tracks provide players a means to operate more efficiently.
If players want a seat on the board someday, they need to show that they can keep a complex machine running smoothly and efficiently, with everything executing just-in-time (JIT).
“This game publication marks a significant moment in the history of Stronghold Games”, said Stephen Buonocore, President of Stronghold Games. “The signing of this major eurogame by such an important designer in the industry is a milestone for us. We know that Kanban will be received in the same great light as Vital Lacerda’s first two critically acclaimed games, Vinhos and CO2.”
“I am really excited to have the opportunity to work with Stronghold Games again”, said designer Vital Lacerda. “On this project, the Stronghold Games development team was instrumental to the final design. Fans of my existing heavy game designs, as well as medium weight eurogame hobbyists, will appreciate the depth and originality of the core game mechanics.”
