This may have helped us improve our simulation results further. To give students a peak into some of these financial decisions, online simulations are used. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 1 25 15 After all of our other purchases, utilization capacity and queuing at station. The goal of our company was to make money, so we needed to upgrade to contract 3 as quickly as possible. Littlefield Simulation We debated whether or not these few exceptions we okay to ignore. LT managers have decided that, after 268 days of operation, the plant will cease producing the DSS receiver, retool the factory, and sell any remaining inventories. What new decisions will you make regarding production levels and pricing for your Widget facility? Revenue This study aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on behavioral operational research (BOR), specifically discussing the potential of system dynamics (SD) models to analyze decision-making, 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'19), Game-based learning refers to the use of game thinking and mechanics to engage and motivate students in the learning process. Base on the average time taken to process 1 batch of job arrivals, we were able to figure out how Thundercats 129 The SlideShare family just got bigger. I will classify our approach as that of hit and trial. Decision 1 145 33 This suggested that FIFO was a better strategy for Station 2, so the team switched the priority back at day 75., Before the simulation started, our team created a trend forecast, using the first 50 days of data, showing us that the bottleneck station was at Station 1. However, the difference in choosing between the priorities seemed minimal and is probably only important during times of high demand. Our cash position got weaker and we then slipped to position 7 from position 2. Therefore our strategy to win this game was controlling the Littlefield Labs system capacity and the inventory level with choosing a right contract as well as keeping the cash daily as much as possible. In order to expand capacity and prepare for the forecasted demand increase, the team decided to immediately add a second machine at Station 1. After a few months of detailed scrutiny of the numbers, we were able to make pricing decisions more quickly by using the breakeven change in volume to set the new price. We were continuously communicating, finding bottlenecks and removing them. Youre not the guy? Whenever revenues reduced, we use to change the scheduling and observe if the revenue problem is resolved. The company had excess space in the existing facility that could be used for the new machinery. lead-time and WIP. To account for the unpredictability in demand and the possibility of getting many consecutive high demand days, we stayed with a reorder point greater than our estimate. To increase the process speed by 10% with 5 new machines by the end of this month., Our first plan (Plan A) includes hiring 4 new employees in January to cover the 2100 units of demand but firing them in February, we will fire these additional employees because the production would be covered. Shortly after day 50, we switched to the contract-2. This proved to be the most beneficial contract as, long as we made sure that we had the machines necessary to accommodate the, The first time our revenues dropped at all, we found that the capacity utilization at, station 2 was much higher than at any of the other stations. 249 When first approaching this game we met to strategize, forecast, make a meeting schedule, and divide the work. Here are our learnings. In addition, because the factory is essentially bootstrapping itself financially, management is worried about the possibility of bankruptcy. Poor inventory assessment before the simulation end can hurt. Our strategy was to get lead times down below .5 days and offer customers that lead time to maximize revenue. This product also is expected to have a 268-day lifetime. You can update your choices at any time in your settings. ; and How would you use this in determining your business plan? However on observing the further utilization problems and the fact that machine at station-1 costed only 25000 $, we decided to add the 8th machine. Littlefield Technologies mainly sells to retailers and small manufacturers using the DSSs in more complex products. Customer Demand We had a better understanding of the operation of the littlefield facility and how certain modifications would affect the throughput and lead time. At the same time, the queue in front of Station 2 was growing, which was odd as the machine was not completely utilized. Uploaded by zilikos. Written Assignment: Analysis of Game 2 of Littlefield Technologies Simulation Due March 14, 8:30 am in eDropbox Your group is going to be evaluated in part on your success in the game and in part on how clear, well structured and thorough your write-up is. Littlefield once again has contracted with your operations management consulting team to manage their operations for this new product. The mission of our team is to complete all aspects of the team assignment on time and to the full requirements set forth by Professor McNickle. Learn more in our Cookie Policy. To say that we had fully understood which scheduling to choose and when, will be wrong. 257 To minimize this threat, management policy dictates that new equipment cannot be purchased if the remaining cash balance would be insufficient to purchase at least one order quantity worth of raw materials. We applied this innovative concept to complement the theoretical sessions, A growing body of research indicates that effective science-policy interactions demand novel approaches, especially in policy domains with long time horizons like climate change. However, if we fail to manage our operations to fulfill the promised lead-times, we do not receive any revenue at all. We did not change the production quantity. Whenever we observed the delays in lead-time management and results, we used to switch back to contract-2; our safe option not to miss on the customers lead-time promise and hence not to lose the revenues. Current State of the System and Your Assignment Our strategy was to keep track of each machines capacity and the order queue. Management would like to increase revenue and decrease costs. Rank | Team | Cash Balance ($) | 0 6 comments Best Add a Comment camcamtheram 2 yr. ago I will explain as to why I choose what I did in this paper., Comparing the difference between the production volume variance of the first and second half of the year, we noticed that during the second term, it is more favorable than the first term. Thus we decided to change the most pressing variable, inventory, and see where it went from there. We had three priority scheduling choices at station-2: FIFO, Items from station-1 and Items from station-3. 5 | donothing | 588,054 | Aneel Gautam Learn faster and smarter from top experts, Download to take your learnings offline and on the go. This proposal, when implemented, can save up to Rs. This button displays the currently selected search type. The electronic kits are acquired from the supplier. We had intense debate in the team, whether to add new machines further or not. Littlefield Technologies Simulation: Batch Sizes Analysis Littlefield Simulation 2: Occupylittlefield With our second littlefield simulation complete, we have reinforced many of the concepts and lessons learned in class. Upon the preliminary meeting with Littlefield management, Team A were presented with all pertinent data from the first 50 days of operations within the facility in order for the firm to analyze and develop an operational strategy to increase Littlefields throughput and ultimately profits. However, the majority of business. We realized that without awareness, no matter how many units we make, sales would be inefficient. You may use it as a guide or sample for Using the analysis, demand for the 268 days of production was forecasted, and our strategy set accordingly., After the initial observations of demand for littlefield labs (day 52), one of the first steps we took was to identify the bottleneck in the production chain. The difference between remaining at $750/order vs. $1250/order could have been as high as 1.3 million dollars over the life of the game (218 days) therefore the cost of new machines was small compared to the benefit and the overall revenue potential made it imperative to get to the lowest lead times possible. Lt Game 2 Strategy. We nearly bought a machine there, but this would have been a mistake. 9, 105 Later however, as the demand increased, it became increasingly complex and difficult for me to predict the annual demands needed for correct EOQ and ROP calculations. Going into this game our strategy was to keep track of the utilization for each machine and the customer order queue. In particular, if an Littlefield Technologies Assignment We did many things right to win this simulation. 1. We've updated our privacy policy. At day 97, our team ranked first in the overall standing, and wanted to try to maintain this standing for the rest of the simulation., Finally, on day 150 we try an all in strategy spending $160.000 in 1 machine for station 1 and 2 to increase the capacity and to process jobs only on conditions of contract 3. After viewing the queues and the capacity utilization at each station and finding all, measures to be relatively low, we decided that we could easily move to contract 3, Except for one night early on in the simulation where we reduced it to contract 2, because we wouldnt be able to monitor the factory for demand spikes, we operated, on contract 3 almost the entire time. Weve updated our privacy policy so that we are compliant with changing global privacy regulations and to provide you with insight into the limited ways in which we use your data. 25000 In appreciation of your prior recommendations and contributions, Littlefield has once again retained your services on their 50th day of operations. Littlefield Laboratories has opened a new blood testing lab. Littlefield Labs makes it easy for students to see operations management in practice by engaging them in a fun and competitive online simulation of a blood testing lab. I agree and I need help. Overall results and rankings. Global negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have so far failed to produce an agreement. At this point our orders we getting out on time with few exceptions. Littlefield Simulation Strategy Hello Everyone! However, when . View Assessment - Littlefield_1_(1).pptx from MS&E 268 at Stanford University. The Niche Cost Leader Strategy puts the main focus on positioning a product at an affordable price while still presenting value to its customers. 161 Seeing that the machines could process a lot more inventory faster than we expected, we decided to change our reorder points and order quantities, to 6000 units and 24,000 units, respectively. Starting at 5 PM on Wednesday, February 27, the simulation will begin The game will end at 9 PM on Sunday, March 3. Serious games offer. 2 | techwizard | 1,312,368 | 81 0 Day 50 Initial Strategy : When the simulation first started we made a couple of adjustments and monitored the performance of the factory for the first few days. On observing the 100% machine utilization at any given station for few consecutive days, we immediately added the new machines. Littlefield Technologies charges a premium and competes by promising to ship a receiver within 24 hours of receiving the order, or the customer will receive a rebate based on the delay. Costs such as Research and Design, materials, and production serve as an important factor in the pricing of Eries products. I have made a few errors but think I stabilized. Activate your 30 day free trialto continue reading. But we knew that this time we needed to act faster than before to acquire new machinery. B6016 Managing Business Operations Our team operated and managed the Littlefield Technologies facility over the span of 1268 simulated days. 1 Littlefield Labs Simulation Professor: Ioannis (Yannis) Bellos Course: MBA 638 School of Business Information Systems . Our final machine configuration (which was set on Day 67) was 3 machine 1's, 2 machine 2's, and2 machine 3's. So, after 360 days, plant will shut down and the remaining inventories and machines will be disposed of. Exhibit 1 : OVERALL TEAM STANDING We did not take any corrective measure to increase our profit margins early in the game. 97 Because: Expert Answer 100% (1 rating) True In order to rectify the inventory policy, the EOQ framework was to be utiliz View the full answer Management requires a 10% rate of return on its investments. Because we hadnt bought a machine at station 1 we were able to buy, the one we really needed at station 3. Nevertheless, although we ranked 4th (Exhibit 1: OVERALL TEAM STANDING), we believe we gained a deeper understanding of queuing theory and have obtained invaluable experience from this exercise. Accessing your factory Littlefield Simulation BLUEs: Anita Lal Jaimin Patel Kamal Gelya Ketaki Gangal 2. As soon as we noticed our lead times drop sufficiently enough for a new contract, we upgraded immediately. Management has used process time estimates from your first report to calculate a stable capacity configuration. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. of Days in Period (365), Cecilia McDaniel also gives a choice of two option plans to cover the shortfall, and propose the best decision following the analyzing impact on the cash flow statements of the hospital., First, with the price of Pig Iron plummeting, companies in our industry are in a fix to decide on cutting down additional costs that can maintain or improve the overall profits. Finally, on day 150 we try an all in strategy spending $160.000 in 1 machine for station 1 and 2 to increase the capacity and to process jobs only on conditions of contract 3. Jaimin Patel We will calculate costs associated with running a production facility. We summarize the nine contributions. Initially we set the lot size to 3x20, attempting to take advantage of what we had learned from the goal about reducing the. A huge spike, in demand caused a very large queue at station 3 and caused our revenues to drop, significantly. 65 However, observed 100% Utilization at Station #1 with the 17x more queued kits. In Littlefield, total operational costs are comprised of raw material costs, ordering costs and holding costs. Click here to review the details. Our decisions were somewhat limited to our EOQ models completion and our risk adversity. after how many hours do revenues hit $0 in simulation 1. At our first meeting we analyzed the first given 50 days so that we could get the daily average demand and SD (Standard Deviation). 20 Return On Investment: 549% Project This is the breakdown of one such simulation., Unrestricted cash and Cash Equivalents /Cash Operation Expenses No. 4 pages. Now customize the name of a clipboard to store your clips. In early January 2006, Littlefield Technologies (LT) opened its first and only factory to produce its newly developed Digital Satellite System (DSS) receivers. Upon initial analysis of the first fifty days of operations, the team noticed that Station 1 had reached 100% utilization several times between days 40 and 50. Once the initial first 50 days of data became available, we plotted the data against different forecasting methods: Moving average, weighted moving average, exponential smoothing, exponential smoothing with trend, and exponential smoothing with trend and season. A detailed data analysis and how the game progressed. Unfortunately not, but my only advice is that if you don't know what you're doing, do as little as possible so at least you will stay relatively in the middle It is necessary to manage mistakes made in strategy during the game, which can resolve issues down the road to have a successful business plan. The case was given one day in advance. Choose skilled expert on your subject and get original paper with free plagiarism 3. We knew that we needed to increase capacity and the decision was made to purchase another machine 1., BIC is a product that has been extremely successful, offering items such as a low-cost disposable razor, and pens that add value to the user at an affordable price. 1.0 Introduction Littlefield Simulation is a game widely used in management courses that replicates a manufacturer's decision making mechanism. Later, we were forced to add machines. Steve was concerned about the potential loss of customers and suggested that Prairie Winds purchase a second pasta production machine for $40 million. The demand during the simulation follows a predefined pattern, which is marked by stable low demand, increasing demand, stable high demand and then demand declining sharply. View the full answer. 137 With full utilization, we were unable to produce enough product to meet our order demands, further increasing the queues at each station and increasing our lead times (as shown)., When the simulation began, we quickly determined that there were three primary inputs to focus on: the forecast demand curve (job arrivals,) machine utilization, and queue size prior to each station. Background My reasoning for using this strategy is that my products will be extremely useful and beneficial to its consumers; products like BIC and McDonalds are in extreme demand with the situation of todays economy. . For the purpose of this report, we have divided the simulation into seven stages after day 50, explicating the major areas of strategically significant decisions that were made and their resulting first increased our inventory reorder point to 10,800 units and changed the order quantity amount to 1800 units.