9308546 Hopp In prior research and teaching in the Master's of Management in Manufacturing Program at Northwestern, these researchers have evolved a system of relationships or "laws" governing factory behavior. They term this system, Factory Physics, and have found it to be a useful framework for comparing competing production control policies. In particular, it is a valuable tool for communicating the subtle tradeoffs involved in the design and control of a manufacturing system to students, both in academic programs and in industrial short courses. Some of the key Factory Physics concepts are based on results from queueing theory. Unfortunately, the vast majority of students for whom Factory Physics id designed have little familiarity with this topic. For this reason, they make extensive use of animated computer simulations to illustrate queueing concepts. While such simulations have been very effective in classroom presentations, they make use of commercial packages that are expensive and time- consuming to learn. As a result, have not been able to provide students with a hands-on learning experience. In this project, the researcher will develop a self-contained, interactive software package that will allow students to easily examine the key types of queueing behavior in a manufacturing system. Since it will not require a commercial package, recipients will be free to duplicate it, use it in their own teaching, and carry it to industry as a tool for convincing managers in their companies of the efficacy of policies that are often overlooked in industry, such as variance reduction.
