DISCOVERY I OPERATIONS SIMULATION
"Managing the Improvement Process"
Learning Points:
A
business operation is created in the classroom by participants taking on the
role of employees, supplier and customer. The facilitator plays the role of
the manager. The business has the opportunity to supply products, in the form
of five pieces of plastic bricks precisely fitted together, to the customer
but must organise itself in order to do so profitably. Lessons are learnt
by experiencing the way in which a business organises, develops and improves
it's processes in order to meet the goal of satisfying customer demand profitably.
The improvement process is a central plank of most businesses competitive position. There is a need to continuously develop the capability of your management team to find ways to keep the improvement process going. This simulation provides a unique insight into the challenges and the ways of managing improvement processes.
The
exercise works through six stages of development covering the issues that
arise from start-up to an efficiently running operation. The first two stages
introduce the idea of a business and the possibility of supplying a product
to the customer. The next four stages involve the participants working to
deliver the product under a variety of constraints such as time, costs,
resources etc.. Each stage is typically 10 minutes duration and the simulator
manages the proceedings through a projected public screen. Keypads are used
by the participants to record a variety of measures at the different functions
and through the software module show progress in real-time. After each stage
the facilitator leads a discussion that prompts the learners to develop
the operation towards profitability.
| Item | ABT Supply | ||
| Participant numbers: | • | Between 12 and 40 | |
| Software required: | • | Licenced ABT DiscoveryI module | Yes |
| Equipment needed: | • | Set
of Participator keypads and receiver |
Yes |
| • | Set of plastic bricks | Yes | |
| • | PC | ||
| • | PC projector | ||
| • | Power supply | ||
| Facilities: | • | Enough space for all participants to see a centrally projected screen | |
| • | Plan for participants to be moved into groups | ||
| Facilitator: | • | Familiarity with software and concepts | Yes |
| Technical assistance | • | For large groups | Yes |