Lego Student

8/10/2019 Lego Student

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The Lego GameStudent Handout

Purpose

The purpose of this simulation is to illustrate manufacturing operations, continuous processimprovement, and JIT concepts in a way that involves participants not only in learning

through participation, but also in decision-making. As a result of playing the game,participants should understand a number of manufacturing and operations JIT techniques,the interaction among these techniques, and issues concerning the sequence of steps in JITimplementation. Concepts from this exercise may be applied in manufacturing and serviceoperations.

Outline

The game is a manufacturing simulation where participants will build Lego products, knownas ichibutsu1, in an operations setting. There are three production processes, plus aninspection station and a warehouse. The production flow follows only one route and allproducts are made on a first in, first out (FIFO) basis.

There are three standard products: red, blue, and yellow. These are made from Lego andDuplo blocks with the color of the Duplo base establishing the product color. Refer to the

Process Sheet for the specification.

The production team should make a few practice pieces before starting the first round.Make sufficient finished goods (FG) to build up the initial inventory in the Warehouse.

In each round, the game starts from the same initial conditions. That is, there is no work inprocess (WIP) and there are 4 reds 2 blues and 2 yellows in the Warehouse The customer


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Participants

CEOs: Direct the strategic operations of the organization in order to ensure profitability.

Director of Operations: Help CEO direct the strategic operations of the organization in order toensure profitability. Also manage the process improvement initiatives in your firm.

Customer:This person reads from a stack of order cards and demands an ichibutsucolor every15 seconds. If product is received immediately, it is considered on-time. If a product isdelivered any time later, it is considered late. This person records orders on-time, late, or not

met on the order recording worksheet. The customer is neutral and does not belong to anyteam.

Warehouse Manager: Stores finished goods and delivers product to the customer whendemanded (or late, as the case may be).

Machine Operator: Obtains Duplo blocks from the Store. Obtains dies from the Die Store.Measure Duplos in the die for fit. Adds colored Lego marker block. Places measured

Duplos in bin for transport by the Material Handler to the next station. Transfer batch sizeis six in Round 1of the game.

Die Storeperson:Is as unhelpful as possible in giving the Machine Operators their colored dies.Demands all die pieces be removed and stacked before accepting a return.

Assembler: Assembles the ichibutsu according to the Process Sheet. When finished with anichibutsu, this person places the assembled ichibutsu in a bin for transport by the Material

Handler. The bin can only be moved after the prescribed batch size has been built.

Heat Treatment Operator: Fills ovens with ichibutsu. After completely filling an oven, thisperson starts the oven and leaves the products inside for 70 seconds. In the first round, theheat treat oven processes in batches of eight. (In later rounds, the team may decide to payfor smaller ovens.) After ichibutsu are removed from the oven, this person places theproducts in their completed bin for transport by the Material Handler.

Quality Inspector: This person inspects the quality of the ichibutsu. He or she will look forproper assembly and for defective parts, and conduct the drop test to see if any parts falloff. If an item does not pass inspection or the test, the entire batch goesback to assemblyand must also go through heat treat again. The inspector is not a member of the team whoseperformance he or she is evaluating. Inspectors will be from OTHER teams.


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Metrics Specialist: Metrics specialists are responsible for keeping track of key measures for theteam, including throughput time, value-added and other vital analysis.

Corporate Spys: Observes a competitors team to ensure that rules are followed and to gainvital knowledge about technological advancements of competitors.

Audit Specialists: Performs periodic inventory audits of a competitors finished goods andwork in process inventories.


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Profit

Teams will compete on the basis of who can achieve the highest profit levels. Profit is afunction of several variables:

Revenues: Earnings for selling finished ichibutsu to the customer. Each on-timeichibutsu is worth $6,000 and each late ichibutsu is worth $4500. Revenues will berecorded by the Customer, but each teams Warehouse Manager will also keep recordfor internal use and for verification purposes.

Factory overhead costs: The number of tables rented. Each table costs $10,000.

Labor costs: The number of employees on payroll. Each employee costs $7,500. Equipment costs: The number of ovens rented. Each oven costs $4,000, regardless of

size.

Purchased materials costs: How many Duplo blocks are purchased and in what quantity.A Duplo block costs $2,000. The price decreases by $25 for every quantity increaseof 1 Duplo. The maximum purchase amount is 10 Duplo blocks at one time. So, thelowest possible price is ($2,000-(25*9))= $1,775. However, each Duplo in rawmaterials inventory will be counted during inventory audits, and there are costs

associated with holding inventory.

Finished goods inventory (FGI) costs: Charges for having too much FGI during an audit.

Work in process (WIP) and finished goods (FG) inventory costs: Based on thenumber of ichibutsuin WIP and FG, as counted at 1, 5, 9, and 13 minutes duringeach round of the game. For each audit, costs will be zero for any quantity under9 units. The cost for 9 WIP or FG will be $250, with costs increasing by 20% foreach unit count above 9. So, for example, the cost for 4 units FG and 15 unitsWIP inventory during an audit is $0 + $746.50, as provided by the FG & WIP

Holding Cost Worksheet. See FG & WIP Holding Cost Worksheet for moreinformation


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Original Game Layout

Machine

Center

Inspection

Heat

Treatment

Assembly Customer

Warehouse1

6

3

24

5

The Bothell Operations Game. Adapted from the Buckingham JIT Game by John Bicheno, PICSIE Books, 1991 to 1996


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Process Sheet

Yellow

1 large white Lego

1 large blue Lego

1 small white Lego

1 small blue Lego

1 small yellow Lego

1 large red Duplo

Blue

1 large red Lego

1 large white Lego

1 small white Lego

2 small blue Legos

1 large blue Duplo

Red

1 large red Lego

1 large yellow Lego

1 small yellow Lego

2 small red Legos

1 large red Duplo


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Ichibutsu Build Process (Round 1)


Assembly Process1. Add designated Legopieces.2. Place completed pieces intransfer bins.3. Call for material handlerswhen bin has 6 ichibutsuWIP items

MaterialHandlersmove WIP in

batches of 6.

Material

Handlersmove WIP in

batches of 6.

Heat Treatment Process1. Be sure to wear safetyequipment: gloves andgoggles2. Receive batches ofichibutsu fromassembler.

3. Place ichibutsu in heattreat oven.4. Begin heat treattiming when oven isfilled (8 in first round)5. Remove treatedichibutsu from oven andcall material handler to

move them to thewarehouse.

Warehouse Process:

1.Receive finished goods inbatches of 6.2. Transfer products tocustomer, as designated bycustomer orders.

3. Record on-time,backorder, and latedeliveries in worksheet.

Customer Process:

1. Shuffle order cards toensure randomness.2. Turn over an ordercard every 15 seconds(TAKT) and state color.3. Receive goods andrecord on-time,

backorder, late.

Direct delivery:No material handler

Die storeexchanges dies each timea color change is made. Die storemanager is slow and grumpy. Insistson receiving previously used die inexchange.

Duplo

materials storesells Duplos

Machine Center Process:

1. Acquire Duplos from DuploStore (material handler mayhelp with this)2. Acquire colored dies from

Die Store, changing color tocorrespond to each batch.3. Set up die on greencutting board.4. Measure and cut Duplos oneat a time.5. Add colored Lego markerblock to top of Duplo. Block

color corresponds to productcolor.6. Place completed ichibutsuWIP into bins for materialhandlers

Material

Handlersmove FG inbatches of 6.

Quality Control Process:1. Inspect each completedichibutsuto make sure itmeets designspecifications.2. Conduct drop test oneach ichibutsu.3. If any item in the batchfails inspection or the drop

test, the entire batchgoesback to assembly forrework and must also gothrou h heat treat a ain.

Material

Handlersmove FG inbatches of 6.

Documents

Lego Student