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Integrating Business Process Simulation Software into a Facilities Layout Course

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Innovative Curriculum in Engineering Technology

Tagged Division

Engineering Technology

Page Count

10

Page Numbers

25.795.1 - 25.795.10

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21552

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21552

Download Count

499

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Paper Authors

biography

Charlie P. Edmonson University of Dayton

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Charlie P. Edmonson is a professor and Program Coordinator of industrial engineering technology at the University of Dayton. Prior to joining the faculty at UD, he retired from the U.S. Air Force Civil Service after 30 years of engineering design, industrial engineering, and engineering management experience at various organizational levels. He holds a bachelor's of science in mechanical engineering from Tennessee State University and a master's of science in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Abstract

Integrating Business Process Simulation Software into a Facilities Layout CourseAbstractMany companies face productivity challenges brought about by today’s economic impact. At thesame time, computers and their software have become easier and easier to use. Computerizedsimulation of business processes enhances productivity by allowing project teams to test theirsolutions prior to actual implementation. Recently, at the U. of X, many industry sponsors ofengineering technology senior projects are requesting that student teams develop simulationmodels of their facility layout designs. At the time of this request, no course in the engineeringtechnology curricula taught even the basics of simulation. Discussion with members of theIndustrial Advisory Committee suggested two alternatives to meet the needs presented bybusiness. The first choice, adding a business process simulation course to the IndustrialEngineering Technology curriculum, proved unfeasible due to the difficulty of adding a newcourse to the curriculum. Falling back on the second choice, the Industrial EngineeringTechnology program initially inserted a few simulation modeling exercises into the FacilitiesLayout course. This tactic proved to be unsatisfactory because these exercises only gavestudents an introduction to the software and did not provide the skill level needed to model theindustry projects. Another problem was that the projects being used for the class exercises andsenior design projects were often too large to model with the student or examination versions ofthe simulation software. As a result of this program inadequacy, a project was initiated to selectthe appropriate business process simulation software to integrate into the Facilities Layoutcourse. This paper will describe the process used to select the best software. Included in thepaper will be discussions of the results of a survey to determine what process simulationsoftware was being used at other engineering technology institutions, what software wasultimately chosen and why it was preferred, and how the Facilities Layout course wasredeveloped to incorporate the use of the software. The newly designed course is currently beingtaught, so the paper will also discuss the students’ evaluations of the new software and theredeveloped course.

Edmonson, C. P. (2012, June), Integrating Business Process Simulation Software into a Facilities Layout Course Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21552

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