The Airplane Machine Simulation

The Airplane game, an exercise in lean thinking. After reviewing the article The Lean Service Machine (Swank, 2003) and watching a video series on making toast using the concepts of Kaizen, the class settled into the simulation. This simulation utilized the uniquely simple task of making a paper airplane and transformed it into an overly complicated multi-step batch process simulating the complex production processes that control the manufacturing of military aircraft. There was a job initiator that brought together the materials necessary to complete the job, carefully recording the batch number and manufacturing sequence on every piece of material. There was the material handler whose job it was to move materials from one job station to another.
The work on each batch had to be completed at a particular job station before it could be positioned for the material handler to move to the next job station. Each job station was to complete a certain fold defined in the build process and then pass the batch on. The final job station was the quality control station that verified the construction and tested the airplane. The class had multiple runs through this simulation, each time, changing something in the process, with the scoring of each run based on the number of completed planes subtracted by the amount of incomplete materials in process. The first run through the simulation dramatically demonstrated that some of the participants had not made a paper airplane in quite some time. Breaking the folds down to individual steps did not allow the individual participants to understand how one step in the process built upon prior steps and facilitated additional steps in the process, and more importantly, that each step, no matter how insignificant was critical in the overall process. The first run through generated four complete planes, thirty-six units in process with a costing out of 2*(4 Completed planes) – 1*(36 WIP) =
The second run was modified by reducing the batch size to three. The group faired only marginally better on producing the planes but the end result of twelve completed units and twenty-seven units in processes costed out at 2*(12)-1*(27)= - 3. The third run in the simulation reduced the batch size to one. We were also prompted to modify the process but were told we could not move the job stations and that we had to follow a strict movement guideline that material could not precede into a job station until the station was clear of any prior activity. So we broke on of the functions up into two steps and placed an additional person into help. The third and final run through the simulation resulted in overall production of fifteen airplanes with two units in production, costing out at 2*(15) - 1*(2) = 28. The reduction of material in process along with the ability to reduce overall cycle time dramatically enhanced profitability of the