Web-based simulations for teaching queueing, Little's Law, and inventory management

We describe and make available three web-based simulations that help to teach concepts related to process flow and variability. These programs simulate, (i) a G/G/1 queue, (ii) a single-stage process to demonstrate the long-run validity of Little's Law and (iii) a continuous-time reorder point/reorder quantity inventory system. All of the simulations are interactive, for they allow users to change system parameters by moving simple sliders. The simulations do not require specialized software to run and are available through any web browser. We offer evidence of how the simulations have helped the students to learn, including documentation from a web-based exercise with the queueing simulation that was completed by 74 students.