An agent-based learning approach for teaching the relationship between lot size and cycle time

Students in most industrial engineering programs are taught just-in-time and other production concepts aimed at reducing cycle time and work-in-process inventory. Much of the material stresses setup time and lot size reduction. However, if the setup times cannot be eliminated or reduced significantly, reducing the lot size in some cases may have an adverse effect on the cycle time because more setup time is incurred. Thus, it is important for students to understand the complex relationship between lot size and cycle time when setups are required. In this paper, we present an agent-based learning approach for teaching this relationship. The agent watches as students experiment with a virtual factory and intervenes opportunistically with questions and explanations.