dr johann riedel & prof kulwant s pawar centre for concurrent enterprising school of mechanical,...

Dr Johann Riedel & Prof Kulwant S Pawar

Centre for Concurrent EnterprisingSchool of Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing Engineering & ManagementUniversity of Nottingham, [email protected] www.cosiga.com(C) University of Nottingham 2002

COSIGA - A Simulation Game for Concurrent

Engineering/ NPD Training

(C) University of Nottingham 2002

The COSIGA Project

Helsinki Universityof Technology

University of Nottingham

Universitä t B rem en


Concurrent Engineering -What is Needed

Support for the practice of CE Knowledge about how to do CE:

– How to really work in parallel

– How to co-operate

– How to work in a distributed, multi-national, multi-cultural environment

Communication and social skills Continuous Professional

Development


Educational Simulation Games - Advantages

Exploit the potential of gaming

Experience instead of just to perceive

Games motivate, make curious, are attractive, entertain

Productive diversion from daily routine work

Immediate feedback about actions

Real life allows no errors, but simulation does

Yield good learning results


Target usersUniversities who

apply COSIGA to teach

– product design– team work– management– CE

Industrial companies who apply it for training all disciplines of their:– engineers– designers– design engineers– industrial engineers– managers– product / project

managers– marketing– purchasing– finance


The COSIGA gamePreconditions

CE is widely accepted as good engineering practice

Many companies practice CE

Many methods, tools, systems are used

Focus: management perspective

What is missing?

No engineers and practitioners’ viewpoint


The COSIGA Game

COSIGA - A Concurrent Engineering Simulation Game

an internet based multimedia simulation game

using internet & telecommunicationsto interact as a teamin a product development scenarioin a Concurrent Engineering

environment.


Game Set-Up

INTERNET

Designer

Purchase Manager(e.g. United Kingdom)

Project Manager(e.g.France)

Marketing Manager(e.g. Germany)

Production Manager(e.g. Finland)


Simulation & Communication

simulation game

communication module


The PlayersTeam role-play game

– Project Manager

– Marketing Manager

– Designer

– Production Manager

– Purchasing Manager

5 players per game

One player per computer

Communication Means (email, video conferencing, IRC Text chat & telephone)


COSIGA - The GameProduct Design scenario (a truck)

– well-known, catchy and universal

Simulates product design process - from market specification to production

Specify the product, design product, configure factory & produce

BUT: Match Market demands & Production constraints– product specification & design versus:

– production processes, production constraints

– purchased components (specification, quantity, quality, supplier), stock levels

Designer

Project Manager

The Factory


Three Pronged Approach:

Situational Awareness: Physical & Virtual Collocation

Cognitive Analysis of Impact on Players’ Thinking/ Learning

Analysis of Communication Pattern

Analysing the Benefits


Physical-Virtual Collocation Experimental Setup

Collocated – all in one room

Virtual – all but 2 in separate offices


Situational Awareness

Context specific questions relating to:

Confidence level in information,

Completeness of information

Ease or difficulty in understanding /decision making

Ease or difficulty because of concurrent tasks

Ease or difficulty because of the capacity to complete


Virtual – Collocated Gap

Ease of Understanding

Virtual

Collocated

hours

Less

More

Virtual team’s understanding becoming worse with time and collocated team’s understanding improving with time.


Please rate these on how similar or close they are to each other on the point scale, where 0 = "not related at all" to 10 = "totally related"

Red

uce

Tim

e to

Mar

ket

Dev

elop

New

Pro

duct

s

Mod

ify E

xist

ing

Des

ign(

s)

Wor

k in

Par

alle

l

Wor

k w

ith E

xper

ts D

iff.

Bac

kgro

unds

Sha

re I

nfor

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ion

Con

tinuo

usly

Und

erst

and

Eas

e/D

iffic

ulty

of

Man

uf.

Und

erst

and

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h O

ther

's O

bjec

tives

Und

erst

and

the

Tas

k/P

robl

em D

epth

Dev

elop

New

Ide

as/S

olut

ions

Avo

id D

uplic

atin

g W

ork

Act

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es

Wor

k C

oope

rativ

ely

Und

ersr

and

Mar

ket/

Cus

tom

er N

eeds

Red

uce

Pro

duct

Cos

t

Dev

elop

Int

erpe

rson

al T

rust

Foc

us o

n Q

ualit

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Est

ablis

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Com

mon

Lan

guag

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Dev

elop

an

Eff

ectiv

e W

ork

Rel

atio

n

Prio

ritis

e W

ork

Act

iviti

es

Reduce Time to Market

Develop New Products

Modify Existing Design(s)

Work in Parallel

Work with Experts from Different Backgrounds

Share Information Continuously

Understand Ease/Difficulty of Manufacture

Understand Each Other's Objectives

Understand the Task/Problem in Depth

Develop New Ideas/Solutions

Avoid Duplicating Work Activities

Work Cooperatively

Undersrand Market/Customer Needs

Reduce Product Cost

Develop Interpersonal Trust

Focus on Quality

Establish a Common Language

Develop an Effective Working Relationship

Prioritise Work Activities

Cognitive Analysis:CE Concepts

Questionnaire


Pre-Gaming CE Cognitive Map

1

23

4

5

6

78

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

6 = share information continuously

7 links


1

2

3

4

5

6

78

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

1718

19

Post Gaming CE Cognitive Map

6 = share information continuously

9 links


Preliminary Results (1 Individual)

CE Concepts List Importance Game CE

prioritise work activities Massive Increase: 4->1 ***

share information continuously Increased Importance

understand market/customer needs Increased Importance

establish a common language No change

develop new ideas/solutions Increased Importance

work with experts from different backgrounds No change

work in parallel Massive Increase: 6->3 ***

modify existing design(s) Increased Importance *

reduce time-to-market Massive Increase: 7->3 ***

develop an effective working relationship Massive Increase: 6->4 ***

reduce product cost Reduced Importance ***

work cooperatively Stayed Same

avoid duplicating work activities Massive Reduction: 2->4 ***

understand each other's objectives Increased Importance **

focus on quality Increased Importance **

understand ease/difficulty of manufacture Massive Reduction: 3->5 ***

understand the task/problem in depth Massive Reduction: 1->6 ***

develop new products Massive Reduction: 3->7 ***

Blue = CE improvement Orange = Game effect


Individual CE Profile

Relatively Positive Experience

Marketing Manager


Individual CE Role Profiles

Marketing Manager

Designer Production Manager


Improvement in players’ CE understanding occurred

Difference by role played– Marketing: Relatively Positive– Designer: Very Positive– Production: Weaker Response

Individual CE Profile-> Scientific approach to

– improving the game– improving its learning outcomes

Preliminary Cognitive Results


Communication - Role Analysis Summary 1

Asking Info (37%)– Purchaser, Production, Designer

Giving Info (12%)– Purchaser, Manager, Marketing, Designer,

Production

Requesting Action (time) (17%)– Purchaser, Marketing, Production, Designer

Cajoling Action (9%)– Manager, Purchaser & Production


Communication - Role Analysis Summary 2

Compliment/Acknowledgement (2%)– Manager, Designer, Production

Frustration (5%)– Purchaser, Production, Designer,

Marketing

Non-Task (9%)– Purchaser, Manager, Production


Analysis of Benefits - Conclusion

COSIGA Simulation Game Successfully Simulates the Process of Designing Products– Both Analyses of Benefits Confirmed this

Information was asked and given by those expected to do so

Frustration experienced by Purchaser & Production, but not Designer & Marketing

Very good team building tool


Conclusion

CE needs new education & training approaches– How to do CE, co-operate, parallelism

Simulation games can meet this need– Group gaming, Experiential

COSIGA is a new approach for education of

personnel involved in NPD– learning goals focus on how-to do CE not on

tools– CE simulation– co-operation

dr johann riedel & prof kulwant s pawar centre for concurrent enterprising school of mechanical,...

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