CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) is usually viewed as a vast and complex undertaking which only the General Motors of this world can afford. This article puts forward a simple CIM strategy based on a building block approach using UNIX (the industry standard hardware independent computer...

A software package is described that attempts to develop students' knowledge of Computer Aided Production Management (CAPM) systems and an awareness of the power of the computer to predict the future by iteratively simulating individual workshop operations. It demonstrates the techniques of CAPM...

Business games are often more costly and require more effort to implement than traditional programmes. However they are rapidly gaining favour as management development tools. Games incorporate a case history of the relevant industry and organisation; a set of realistic rules guiding business...

The implementation of the Japanese inventory control system, Kanban, in a production line, reduces Work‐in‐Process (WIP) inventory without affecting production or sales, though there is a point at which the reverse becomes true. The hypothesis that Kanban policy would reduce total WIP...

A simulation model conceived from the causal and interactive behaviour of various inter‐related activities is described, its aim being to aid study of the problems of the procurement‐production‐distribution system of a manufacturing company engaged in the multi‐stage production of many...

An important task in the analysis of a behavioral simulation model is to explain clearly how the model's organizational assumptions lead to its simulated behavior. All too often, model-based arguments involve an uncomfortable "leap of logic" between equations and consequences. This paper...