A HARDWARE BASED CIM SIMULATION LABORATORY MODEL TEST Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 17, 1990 211 A HARDWARE BASED CIM SIMULATION LABORATORY MODEL TEST R.J. Schlesinger, San Diego State University G.N. Vik, San Diego State University ABSTRACT: A hardware based simulation laboratory of a computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) environment for business students studying production and operations management (POM) is described. A method for evaluating the educational effectiveness is also considered. Introduction: The Problem (1) National. need for qualified factory management people: The big picture” problem centers on the nation’s unfavorable import/export payment ratio in manufactured goods. While the reasons for this situation are many and varied, the manufacturing industry cannot escape implication. One of the necessary elements in a solution to this U.S. problem is to increase the number of informed, motivated and experienced plant managers. Complex, highly automated factories are not likely to attract the millions of dollars required for development from corporate managers who are unfamiliar with automation and hence may exhibit risk avoidance to such investments. (2) Lack of hands-on experience: Unfortunately, a purely computer-based simulation game does not provide business students studying POM with any physical exposure to the modern factory environment. Engineer’s physicists, chemists and biology students all obtain (to some degree) a physical image of their “real” world through conducting laboratory-based experiments. Business students studying POM must garner their impression of the modern CIM facility from a text book- -occasional field trips not withstanding. (3) Lack of motivation to pursue a career in factory management: It is generally conceded that very few first-year business students express any interest in careers associated with factory management. The image of the field (if any exists at all) seems to be one of “oil cans, dirty finger nails and no professional future.” Thus the POM major is not one of the most popular in the business college. A Solution (Maybe) In order to attract students to the POM field it is necessary to show that the work is interesting, can provide a good career path and is not ‘dirty.’ To accomplish the objectives, i.e., promote student interest and experience, a hands-on environment, hardware-based CIM laboratory was developed. The laboratory model is called a Teach- Factory (T-F). The laboratory employs a QC inspection station, tracked vehicles to transport products and robotic loading and unloading stations. A case study problem serves as the laboratory experiment.” The students solve the problem, first theoretically on paper, and then implement the solution in the T-F laboratory. This sequence of theory and laboratory simulation provides an opportunity to translate a paper solution into a physical one. The laboratory operation is carried out by student teams who vie with one another to achieve the greatest “pay-off.” Teach-Factory Simulator In the case study problem, material is received from an outside vendor, inspected for defects and sorted into a “good bin” or a ‘bad bin.” The rate of incoming material is specified by the student; factory manager in accordance with a demand forecast created by the students from historic data. Actual delivery is modulated by a Poisson distribution so that there will be some variation in the quantities of material received. Further, the quality of the incoming material is unknown to the factory personnel; hence the amount of inspection required must be established. The inspection process has a cost associated with it in terms of both time and money, and the goal of plant management is to achieve a desired throughput. Time is scaled to one-minute equal’s one hour. Hence a typical 40-minute class experiment represents a 40-hour workweek. A cost is also associated with idle factory equipment such as vehicles and robots. The Teach-Factory requires students to solve several basic POM problems involving forecasting, scheduling, queues and quality control. Solving these problems in a real-time, dynamic operating environment provides different insights from those obtained through mere paper solutions. Students begin to appreciate the interrelation of technology with business objectives and view the process as a total system. Laboratory Evaluation Current research is directed at evaluating the effectiveness of the Teach-Factory. Two areas are of interest: (1) The usefulness of the lab in demonstrating the theoretical aspects of POM studies and (2), to what degree student interest and motivation In a POM career path is enhanced. Point (2) is deemed as important as point (1) but more difficult to test. The evaluation plan will provide introductory POM courses, consisting of the traditional lecture series only, to a control group of students; lectures and T-F laboratory exposure to another group, and a follow-up comparison of the two teaching methods. The availability of qualified faculty will also affect the results. Historically, business school faculty have been somewhat reticent to become involved in hardware laboratories. Whether this is due to lack of interest, lack of confidence in the idea, or lack of hardware background is not clear. Faculty are no doubt just as prone to risk avoidance in approaching new areas as are businessmen unwilling to invest in little-understood robot automation. The fact that business school faculty are not; comfortable with programmable controllers, sensors, robots, lasers and other advanced hardware found in a CIM environment (and in T-F) must eventually be addressed. One solution that is becoming more prevalent is joint engineering school/business school courses in manufacturing areas. Conclusions Intense international manufacturing competition requires that new methods be found to attract and train students in the POM field. T- F L5 an experiment to introduce non-technical business students to a high-tech environment. So far engineering students taking the course have shown more interest than business students 1n running T-F. Finally, evaluation may provide insight relative to business student and business department commitment to P014 programs. Table of Contents Volume 17, 1990 The Impact of Decision Support Systems on the Effectiveness of Small Group Decisions - Revisited The Relationship Between Financial Performance and Other Measures of Learning on a Simulation Exercise Use and Effectiveness of an Analogy-Based Expert System Suggestions for Computerized Business Authors Dealing with Power: An Experiential Exercise Using Movie and Personal Diary Analysis Techniques A Model for Developing Student Skills and Assessing Outcomes Through Outdoor Training Computer-Aided Exercises Versus Workbook Exercises as Learning Facilitator in the Principles of Marketing Course An Exposition of Guilford's Si Model as a Means of Diagnosing and Generating Pedagogical Strategies in Collegiate Business Education Formal Planning and Simulation Team Performance: A Cross Sectional Approach Cases: Real Organizations in Real Time in the Classroom An Empirical Investigation of the Internal Validity of Marketing Simulation Game An Empirical Evaluation of the Pedagogical Value of Playing a Simulation Game in a Principles of Marketing Course Factors Affecting Effective Teaching of Strategic Planning: Some Preliminary Evidence An Experiential Exercise for Learning About the Relationship Between Organizational Form & the Project Management Process Accounting Communication Skills can be Taught in the Auditing Course Modeling Cost Functions in Computerized Business Simulation: An Application of Duality Theory and Sheppard's Lemma A Life Cycle Analysis of Decision Making for a Strategic Management Team What's the Problem? A Dynamic Model for Teaching Problem Solving Skills Experientially International Currency Fluctuations: Money$im, A Simulation Superstores: A Specialized Retailing Simulation Within a Specialized Marketing Curriculum Factors Affecting Student Perceptions of Learning in a Business Policy Game VC + EL = VL The Name Game: An Experiential Exercise in Intergroup Relations The Effects of Experiential Accounting Work Experience on Student Performance in Intermediate Accounting Courses The Results of Using the Experiential Activity Group Performance Evaluation in a Business Policy Setting Using a Legal Database to Describe the Legal Environment of Marketing (and Business) Matching Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Configuration An Instructional Computer Simulation of Tampering in QC Executive Evaluation of Student Learning in the Looking Glass Simulation Group Personality Composition and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance An Expert System for Selecting Analytical Techniques for Analyzing Marketing Research Data Effects of Cognitive Styles on Responses in an In-Basket Simulation A Psychometric Analysis of Kolb's Revised Learning Style-Inventory Selecting and Developing Experiential Exercises Using Movies Application of a Real-World Strategic Management Model in the Classroom Demand Equations which Include Product Attributes Consumption as the Objective in Computer-Scored Total Enterprise Simulations The Effects of Decision Format and Evaluation on Simulation Performance, Decision Time, and Team Cohesion The Effects of Computer Related Assignments on Student Performance in Business Administration The Money Game: A Dynamic Simulation Including Random Shocks for Money and Banking Courses Methods for Evaluating Performance on Business Simulations: A Survey The Effects of Synergogy on the Policy Course: Significant Improvements in Student Learning and Teacher Evaluation Conditions and Outcomes of Trust in a Two-Person Bargaining Exercise Bankgame Enhancing Computer Business Simulation with the Use of VGA Graphics An Experiential Approach to Entrepreneurship An Advanced Simulation Method (ASM) for Multiple Objective Problems The Influence of Experiential learning Techniques on Student Recognition of Non-Primary Learning Styles Negotiating Mergers and Acquisitions: A Cocktail Napkin Approach Identification of Unintended Effects in Experiential Laboratory Exercises An Experimental Comparison of Paper and Pencil and Computer Aided Decision Support Tools Porting a Simulation from the IBM World to the Macintosh World A Transaction Cost Analysis of Experiential Learning The Development of Experiential Exercises for Courses in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management The Assessment Center as and Experiential Classroom Exercise Pricing Strategy Algorithms for Playing Business Simulations Organizational Structures for International Operations: An Experiential Activity Simulation Emphasis in the Business School Capstone Course An Integrated Approach to Computerizing the Business Curriculum Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations Exercise Organizational Socialization and Gender Differences in Students at Work Understanding Student Work Experience: A Content-Analytic Approach Introducing Executive MBA Programs with Management Games An Analysis of Improvement in Business Decision Outcome with Sequential Use of Two Simulation Games Teaching Business Policy Utilizing Mass Lecture and Individual Case Labs Potholes Along the Road to Evaluating Learning Outcomes: The Case of Outdoor Management Training Experiential Learning for Interior Design Students: Using CADD, Lotus 1-2-3, and Wordperfect Cognitive Learning Using a Computer-Based, Qualitative Interactive Business Simulation Sex Discrimination: Does the Woman get the Job or Does the Best Man Win? A Search for Visual Aids to Support Experiential Learning Through the 1990's An Experimental Analysis fo the Effectiveness of Student Role-Playing in Sales Training How to Have Students Learn from their Term Projects Self-Evaluation Exercise (SEE): An Assessment of Class Contribution A Study of the Influence of Team Formation on Attitudes and Performance in Management Games A Hardware Based CIM Simulation Laboratory Model Test Substance Abuse in Organizations Micro Computer Training Models Teaching Forecasting, Cash Budgeting and Inventory Model Building Using SBTools A Comparison of the Effects of Experiential Learning Activities and Traditional Lecture Classes An Adjunct Writing Instruction Assistant, The Computer; With an Illustration Classroom Software for ABC Analysis Utilizing Information Processing Technology to Enhance the Business Policy Simulation Experience Progressive Cases Realistic Job Previews Vs. Traditional Job Previews: Experiencing the Differences and Understanding the Consequences Investment Analysis Using the Pragmatic Multiplier Approach A Computer Simulation Interface for Competitive and Firm Analysis Self-Assessment of Ethical Decision Making Predispositions Preparing Managers for Overseas Assignments An Inquiry into Japanese Marketing: Workshop on Teaching Japanese Marketing The Performance Appraisal Feedback Interview: A Role Play for Human Resources Management Teaching Counselor Selling techniques Using Experiential Techniques to Teach International Topics International Management Simulation Gaming: Current Status and Future Developments A Realism Comparison of Simulation Technologies/Methodologies A Time-Efficient Game to Illustrate Concepts Taught in Management Courses and Management Development Programs Teaching the Management of Technology The Concept of Face and the Applicability of Experiential Exercises in an Oriental Culture's