Abstract:

Production networks are a well known and broadly discussed topic in management, operation or engineering science. Today`s production of goods is spanning a global network between many companies and actors. Several problems or issues are known to coordinate such a network. Taking into consideration supply chain management the flow of material, financial and information have to be managed. Products, parts, customers, their orders, suppliers, employees, machinery etc. have to be coordinated. Usually information technology is used or named as solution. More often the operators can not overlook such complex systems and quite often managers underestimate the coordination and communication complexity, too. Production networks, even dyadic relations, containing various aspects and its complex relationships are not easy to survey.
Serious games as well as learning factories are well known for teaching and exploring complex content. In the field of production and production networks many games focusing on training of single problem tasks. Further most of the existing “general” games are computer or “paper” based simulations and misses’ a hap tic and visual “near operation” experience. The concept of learning factories meanwhile has a more action oriented exploring character in conjunction with a near reality environment.
This paper will give an introduction in the production network research and a brief overview of learning factory and game based learning concepts. The second part will present a basic approach which integrates learning factory environmental issues in association with a serious game oriented model. This approach could be used to teach and explore several of the indicated issues from production networks in a fresh way. The game is using Lego® Bricks and a simple distributed production with two separated groups. By playing this serious game the players have the chance to see operational consequences of strategic decisions and should develop a sense of the topics complexity and its interrelations. The second intention of this approach is the flexible addressing of different production network problem foci in one learning environment.
The aim of the paper is to present the first state of the development, a first example scenario and its first results focusing on one of manifold production network topics. The author is from the industrial engineering science area with a production planning and operation background. The paper should be understood as a basis for a discussion in an education driven environment.

Keywords:

Production network, learning factory, serious game, action learning.