Lean Enterprise Value Business Simulation (Training Game)

The Lean Enterprise Value (LEV) simulation (or "game") is a unique tool for the training of lean techniques. It is the property of the Lean Enterprise Consortium (LAI) at MIT; it is distributed by MDC to LAI member companies, which include most major, and many minor, companies in the US Aerospace industry. It currently comprises four modular simulations based on more than 10 years of LAI research and experience. The game is a complete, flexible simulation of a complex enterprise, which allows interactive, hands-on lessons in lean improvement. The goal of the game is to assemble Lego aircraft to meet customer demand. Each participant ("player") is in charge of a facility: an assembly plant, subcontractor fabricating plant, product development department or service and support organization. Each facility is represented by a simple set of rules and actions. Hourglass timers and dice are used to represent process times and variability of each facility. The facilities (for a cost) may be upgraded; resulting in local improvements; more importantly, the organization, work share, and work flow between the facilities can be altered to create an overall lean enterprise. A sophisticated economic system creates both the metrics necessary for improvement, as well as a "paperwork" burden that must also be reduced through lean methods.

The game is flexible and modular, so that a variety of lean lessons can be incorporated. The modules can be used independently (so, for example, simple lean concepts can be taught using only the manufacturing table). The starting condition can be varied such that anything from a few targeted improvements to a complete lean transformation is required. The game sequence can also be varied, so that (for example) players make local improvements before performing enterprise integration. Finally, the degree of mentoring can be varied, from one extreme of players performing "on their own" to maximize participatory learning, to the other of fully mentored lean improvements to allow comparison of lean and non-lean performance in minimal time. With each additional engagement during the nearly three years the LEV game has been in existence, it has grown in its capability to deliver or support lean training and provide a realistic learning context for experiencing advanced learning about lean. MDC personnel have also grown in their experience with it as a training tool, as well how to adapt it to address different learning objectives.

The LEV simulation has been used in an executive short course at MIT, and by several members of the LAI consortium as part of an overall training package. A recent corporate adopter shared the course ratings by students at the conclusion of a 2 week-long course built around the LEV game. Over half the participants in the course cited the LEV game as "excellent", and felt that the game really represented the core content of the class. They said the LEV game drove home the lessons about making a win-win outcome across the extended enterprise. Several other LAI consortium members have adopted or are in the process of adopting the LEV game, each with their own specific learning objectives. Customizations added to the game have included additional training material and exercises covering classical lean practices such as 6S, visual control, JIT, kanban, etc., as well as lean accounting, lean engineering, variation reduction, design of experiments, theory of constraints, and others. In each case, the LEV game has demonstrated that it is a very robust and adaptable platform for teaching advanced lean lessons.

In addition to the simulation itself, a dissemination process has been created. Typically, customer requested modifications are done, and sometimes presented to key personnel in an "alpha" seminar, followed by a "beta" seminar at an actual company event. Information collected at and after the beta event is used to tune the simulation and learning materials, resulting in a final version. Also, during the beta seminar, the customers' facilitators can be, if desired, trained to take over the facilitation of the training. If required, this trainer-training can be completed by mentoring at the next training event, and ultimately certifying the customer facilitators. This provides an option for the training to be transitioned to full customer ownership, where desired, with on-going support by Metis and/or LAI as necessary.