In short, our inventory management could have been better towards the end. 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. To maintain this strategy, I will keep the costs that go into the products low. One key element that caught my attention was bottleneck issues. We noticed that around day 31, revenues dipped slightly, despite the fact that the simulation was still nowhere near peak demand, suggesting that something was amiss in our process. We bought additional machines at stations with high utilization rates in an attempt to relieve those bottlenecks. Accessing your factory We did intuitive analysis initially and came up the strategy at the beginning of the game. 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. Check out my presentation for Reorder. The decisions to be made are regarding buying or selling machines, setting inventory policies i.e. In complex simulation-based learning environments, participants learning and performance may suffer due to demands on their cognitive processing, their struggle to develop adequate mental models, Background. Machine Purchase: "Eliminate Bottleneck, Minimize Q" 1) Day - 56: Purchase Board Stuffer @ Station 1 Bottleneck was Station #3. 1 | bigmoney1 | 1,346,320 | While ordering and setting the next reorder points, I kept in mind that the demand is increasing and I should have sufficient safety stock (buffer), so as not to lose revenues due to inventory shortages. In terms of choosing a priority for machine 2, we decided to switch to priority to step 2 since machine 2's utilization was consistently higher than machine 3's. The logic behind this decision was to complete as many units as possible without delay. In addition, because the factory is essentially bootstrapping itself financially, management is worried about the possibility of bankruptcy. We knew that we needed to increase capacity and the decision was made to purchase another machine 1., In order for our strategy to be effective, our optimal timing for planned investments will be when demand is predicted to be high. Littlefield Simulation Analysis, Littlefield, Initial Strategy - StuDocu Registered address: Louki Akrita, 23 Bellapais Court, Flat/Office 46 1100, Nicosia, Cyprus However, to reduce holding costs and ordering costs t [ As our contracts changed, our lead times changed the problem of inventory reorder points ] After we signed to contract 3, we made few changes to the factory. Do not sell or share my personal information, 1. Littlefield Laboratories has opened a new blood testing lab. Poor inventory assessment before the simulation end can hurt. Page | 5 1.0 Introduction Littlefield Simulation is a game widely used in management courses that replicates a manufacturer's decision making mechanism. writing your own paper, but remember to 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. A detailed data analysis and how the game progressed. Littlefield Technologies Operations The account includes the decisions we made, the actions we took, and their impact on production and the bottom line. Very useful for students who will do the simulation for the first time. Please refer to the appendix (Exhibit I) for detailed financials., The Elijah Heart Center needs to make changes on cost-cutting, funding options for equipment, and funding options for capital expansion. As expected, the contracts with lesser lead-times fetch the company higher revenues per day. It is now nine months later, and Littlefield Technologies has developed another DSS product. Littlefield Simulation for Operations Management - Responsive A huge spike, in demand caused a very large queue at station 3 and caused our revenues to drop, significantly. Background Figure 1: Day 1-50 Demand and Linear Regression Model Littlefield Simulation Analysis Littlefield 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. After all of our other purchases, utilization capacity and queuing at station. 1 When the machine-count at station-1 reached seven, we were hesitant to add further machines despite heavy utilization. and In the first trial simulation, we were hesitant to add machines. One colleague was responsible for customer order management and the other for the capacity management. 217 Machine stoppage data for the, One of our team members conducted a full operations analysis. Littlefield Simulation Analysis - Term Paper - TermPaper Warehouse This helped us focus more on our individual areas. on 54th day. Anita Lal . The goal of our company was to make money, so we needed to upgrade to contract 3 as quickly as possible. Management requires a 10% rate of return on its investments. At the end of this products lifetime, demand Lead Time Management at Littlefield Labs ; and How would you use this in determining your business plan? Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI. Do a proactive capacity management : Machines. Littlefield Technologies - Responsive To ensure we are focused and accomplish these set goals, the following guidelines Running head: Capacity Management Few teams, who took their time to figure out the information, to develop strategies and to make decision during the simulation made their first decisions very late (>100th day). Thus we decided to change the most pressing variable, inventory, and see where it went from there. To give students a peak into some of these financial decisions, online simulations are used. An implication of this study is that tangible stock-flow tasks are as difficult for humans to control as are purely cognitive tasks. Revenue Littlefield 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. for EOP and ROP. $600. Because we hadnt bought a machine at station 1 we were able to buy, the one we really needed at station 3. regarding contract management and machine additions quite early, e.g. Managements main concern is managing the capacity of the factory in response to the complex demand pattern. 169 Markowicz felt that he had a primary responsibility to the company to ensure that the production process runs smoothly at his plant, and after the first half of 2010, it reported profitable operations and net cash inflows from investing activities was positive for the first time in three years and had already reached $250,000 in just the first half of the year. I was mainly responsible for the inventory management. Hence, we will increase our capacity levels where demand is forecasted to peak. The few sections of negative correlation formed the basis for our critical learning points. View the full answer. . In the investigation, the results of which are presented in this study, the implications of the growing role of PMCs on the governance of global politics considers the effects of PMCs in both their military roles and their security roles. We had split the roles. This meant that machine 1 was not able to keep up with the incoming demand and lacked the proper capacity. | Should have bought earlier, probably around day 55 when the utilization hits 1 and the queue spiked up to 5 |, Our next move was to determine what machines need to be purchased and how many. 249 This essay was written by a fellow student. 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. stuffing testing In the initial months, demand is expected to grow at a roughly linear rate. In addition, the data clearly showedprovided noted that the demand was going to follow an increasing trend for the initial 150 days at least. Information about the two alternatives follows. to help you write a unique paper. The results and insights generated by these contributions suggest that the greatest need for future research on system dynamics and its contribution to simulation-gaming is demonstration of improvements in learning and performance. A summary of the rationale behind the key decisions made would perhaps best explain the results we achieved. The decision depends on the expected lead-time, which we promise to the customer. The decision for the customer contract is between three options. Starting at 5 PM on Wednesday, February 27, the simulation will begin The game will end at 9 PM on Sunday, March 3. This button displays the currently selected search type. Operations Policies at Littlefield We will work to the best of our abilities on the Littlefield simulation and will work as a team to make agreed upon manufacturing changes as often as is deemed needed. So we purchased a, machine at station 2 first. Littlefield Technologies was developed by Sunil Kumar and . SOMETIMES THEY TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO BE PROCESSED. Delays resulting from insufficient capacity undermine LTs promised lead times and ultimately force LT to turn away orders. [PDF] System Dynamics and Simulation/Gaming | Semantic Scholar The results support the value of simulations for building operational understanding of accumulations and suggest design considerations that may further increase the effectiveness of such SBLEs. In case of our plant, I have performed a detailed analysis of every activity and deduced a proposed cost structure. We've encountered a problem, please try again. The LT factory began production by investing most of its cash into capacity and inventory. We were interested in allocating the money towards marketing as opposed to production. Although we had the choice to produce as much as 30,000 units, we felt as though we did not have sufficient money to increase production. Littlefield Simulation | Case Study Solution | Case Study Analysis Littlefield Stimulation field paper group strategies for the little field simulation game our primary goal for the little field simulation game is to meet the DismissTry Ask an Expert Ask an Expert Sign inRegister Sign inRegister Home Ask an ExpertNew My Library Discovery Institutions Southern New Hampshire University StuDocu University Our team operated and managed the Littlefield Technologies facility over the span of 1268 simulated days. Demand Consequently, we lost revenues when the demand neared its peak. Littlefield once again has contracted with your operations management consulting team to manage their operations for this new product. Since the demand was fairly constant, it was not essential to change the reorder point. 54 | station 1 machine count | 2 | Littlefield Simulation Report: Team A Though we are pleased with our final results compared to the rest of the class, we see there is still room for improvement. 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. Registration number: 419361 The Niche Cost Leader Strategy puts the main focus on positioning a product at an affordable price while still presenting value to its customers. Management Strategy Copyright 2023 service.graduateway.com. This decision was taken based on a demand of 91 jobs and a utilization of station 1 of 0.83 between days 143 and, 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. Littlefield Simulation . 33 The only expense we thought of was interest expense, which was only 10% per year. Management is currently quoting 7-day lead times, but management would like to charge the higher prices that customers would pay for dramatically shorter lead times. Decisions Made We had intense debate in the team, whether to add new machines further or not. Activate your 30 day free trialto unlock unlimited reading. We summarize the nine contributions. PLEASE DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE FINAL SECONDS TO MAKE YOUR CHANGES. 113 Any remaining machinery or inventory will be useless after Day 268, and thus have no residual value. When the exercise started, we decided that when the lead time hit 1 day, we would buy one station 1 machine based on our analysis that station 1 takes the longest time which is 0.221 hrs simulation time per batch. As sales continued to grow over the next few simulated weeks, the process was able to keep up with demand and the lead times stayed well below 1 day, confirming that the addition of this machine was the correct decision.. Tan Kok Wei BIC uses a strategy similar to the Niche Cost Leader Strategy. Ranking Littlefield Technologies Part 1 - 655 Words | Studymode assume youre on board with our, https://graduateway.com/littlefield-technologies-simulation-batch-sizes/. The first was that the area be implications of the growing role of private military companies (PMCs) for governing global politics Littlefield Technologies is a factory simulator that allows students to compete with each other over the web while developing operations management skills. 121 Here are our learnings. Start decision making early. The decision making for the machines is typically based on the utilization of machines. I will classify our approach as that of hit and trial. 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. Because all stations were at times operating at full, we knew that all would create a bottleneck if left to operate as is. Our team operated and managed the Littlefield Technologies facility over the span of 1268 simulated days. Mission 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. 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.