Littlefield Technologies: Overview

1. Littlefield Technologies: Overview Arkansas State University Dr. Ahmad Syamil, CFPIM, CIRM, CSCP

2. Littlefield Technologies • Littlefield Technologies is a factory simulator that allows students to compete with each other over the web while developing operations management skills. • Littlefield Technologies was developed by Dr. Sunil Kumar and Dr. Samuel C. Wood at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. • Stanford has licensed the simulator to Responsive Learning Technologies, which has implemented it in a way that multiple universities can access it over the web

3. Littlefield Technologies • It is most commonly used in courses that include the following: • Operation Management • Management Science/Operations Research/Quantitative Methods • Production and Inventory Control • Industrial Engineering • Manufacturing • Learning Objectives include: • Utilization and queuing • Capacity management • Lead time management • Inventory control • Cash flow management • Managing customer responsiveness, etc.

4. Littlefield Technologies • Littlefield Technologies is a job shop which assembles Digital Satellite System (DSS) receivers • These receivers are assembled from kits of electronic components procured from a single supplier • The assembly process consists of four steps carried out on three stations • Board stuffing • Testing • Tuning

5. Littlefield Technologies • 4 steps • Step 1 consists of mounting the components on PC boards and soldering them at the board stuffing station • Step 2 is when the digital components are briefly tested at the testing station • Step 3 is when key components are tuned at the tuning station • Step 4 is when the boards are exhaustively “final tested” at the testing station

6. Littlefield Technologies • All the stations consist of automated machines which performs the operations • You may buy and sell any machine • Board stuffing machines cost $90,000 • Testers cost $80,000 • Tuning machines cost $100,000 • Selling retirement price is $10,000 • Orders arrive randomly at the factory and each order is for 60 receivers which is then matched up with 60 raw kits and becomes a manufacturing lot

7. Littlefield Technologies • If an order comes in and there are less than 60 raw kits, then the order waits in the customer order queue pending arrival of raw kits • Each kit is processed one at a time and does not move on to the next station until the entire lot is complete on the current station • Once all stations are complete, the lot is then shipped to the customer

8. Littlefield Technologies • Raw kits are purchased from a single supplier and cost $10 per kit ($600 per order) with a fixed cost of $1000 per shipment • The supplier requires 4 days to ship any quantity of raw kits • An order is placed when the following 3 criteria are met: • The inventory of raw kits is less than the material reorder point • There are no orders for raw kits currently outstanding • The factory has sufficient cash to purchase the specified order quantity

9. Littlefield Technologies • The order is shipped when all 60 kits are complete for that order • If an order is shipped out within 24 hours after it arrives, then $1,000 is earned • If an order is shipped out after 24 hours of arrival, then a penalty is given • Orders that take longer than 72 hours will generate no revenue at all

10. Littlefield Technologies • You will have some cash on hand when the assignment begins • This amount is depleted by buying machines as well as buying raw kits from suppliers • The revenue comes from filled orders in the allotted amount of time and earns interest at 10% per year • There are no taxes and all overhead costs are ignored • The winning team is the team with the most cash at the end of the game

11. Registering Your Team • Before the assignment begins you need to create and register your team (maximum = 3 students per team) • You need a team name (all lower case letters and no punctuation) and a password • On the registration page, you will have to enter the code given in class • Then you can enter your selected team name and password • Finally, you will need to enter names of the team members

12. Accessing Your Factory • Your factory can be accessed from the entry web page using your team name and password • The following points about configuring your browser are crucial but only necessary if things do not appear to be working right: • Browser must be Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later or IE 3.0 or later • Java and JavaScript should be enabled

13. Using the Simulator • The web-based simulator runs continuously • One hour of real time corresponds to 24 hours of simulated time • Your factory is updated at login time and you can also click the update button on the bottom of the page • Assignment information is given to you before each assignment and while the assignment is running you can access the simulation as many times as you would like • Once the assignment is over, the page is frozen and no more changes can be made

14. Using the Simulator • Clickable icons are shown after login • They reveal a menu and corresponding data • Clicking on the icons will enable you to change certain features of the factory such as the number of machines in a station • Sources and used of cash can be found here as well • Finally, you can check the overall standing of your team