Model Development of a Virtual Learning Environment to Enhance Lean Education

Modern day industry is becoming leaner by the day. This demands engineers with an in-depth understanding of lean philosophies. Current methods for teaching lean include hands-on projects and simulation. However, simulation games available in the market lack simplicity, ability to store the results, and modeling power. The goal of this research is to develop a virtual simulation platform which would enable students to perform various experiments by applying lean concepts. The design addresses these deficiencies through the use of VE-Suite, a virtual engineering software. The design includes user-friendly dialogue boxes, graphical models of machines, performance display gauges, and an editable layout. The platform uses laws of operations management such as Little’s law, economic order quantity (EOQ) models, and cycle time. These laws enable students to implement various lean concepts such as pull system, just-in-time (JIT), single piece flow, single minute exchange of dies (SMED), kaizen, kanban, U-layout, by modifying the process parameters such as process times, setup times, layout, number, and placement of machines. The simulation begins with a traditional push type mass production line and the students improve the line by implementing lean techniques. Thus, students experience the advantages of lean real time while facing the real life problems encountered in implementing it. © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V.