select... Topics Organization People Activities Issues

Vol 26 - No 05 - June 2000 The ROME Project: a Report from the Virtual Factory Building Site Remember the last time you let the builders loose at your own factory? Well, it's much the same at Rometex, the virtual lawn mower factory currently under construction in the cyberspace of the University of Huddersfield... The client has a sharp eye on the clock and the budget, while on site they're calling for more tea breaks! Here's an update. Rometex Construction Continues With New Staff Using 3D Webmaster software, Project Brickie (sorry, Designer) Kevin Beynon has finished the building and is installing the machinery and people that turn inventory into finished Rometex mowers. The assembly area is now filling orders and the paint shop will start spraying soon. Persefoni Stylianoudaki, a University of Huddersfield MSc. graduate in Interactive Design, joined the team in March. She recently built a 3D virtual theatre at the University of Bradford. Course Content : The Ops Management Handbook Project Editor Bob Irwin's recent focus has been writing the handbook that students use to investigate situations in the virtual factory. Tony Wild of Midas Consultants and the engineering staff at the University of Huddersfield are conducting ICPIM courses. Their teaching material is a major source of handbook content. Modules on MRP and Inventory Management are now complete. Recognising the nature and potential of interactive delivery, Bob aims to minimise text without jeopardising the message. To this end, Kevin and Persefoni are developing animated graphics to augment and often replace text - making ROME a " 'leaner and meaner' product. ROME Pilot Feedback ROME has piloted material on ICPIM courses at Kirklees Industrial Training Service in Brighouse and Bolton and Bury Business Link. Students used a ROME module on CD to unravel the logic of MRP. What was the reaction of real-life guinea pigs set loose in the virtual factory? 75% said the factory was a realistic and effective gateway to the handbook. After practice, 76% could navigate easily, though some had difficulty finding and keeping track of clues. These problems will be solved by making clues more visible from various points of view, moving/removing obstacles and employing a checkbox system. Feedback on MRP content was 84% positive. Most users finished the module and found the teaching sequence (Explanation/step-by-ttep Example / Do-it-Yourself exercise) easy to follow and understand. Despite minimal MRP experience, 80% finished the module. Only 30% completed the interactive MRP matrix correctly. But all users said the level of the content and exercises was right for them. They felt if they'd spent more time working through the logic of the Step-by-Step examples, they would have been more successful in the exercises. This student feedback was broadly mirrored in comments from industrial partners who reviewed the material. Input from Industry : Problem Pathways These are the links between visual clues in the factory and handbook content. The Problem Pathways Working Group of our industrial partners met in September to brainstorm critique and revise pathways, ensuring they begin with realistic situations and lead to meaningful, relevant content. Additional consultation has been by e-mail. ROME thanks all contributors for their enthusiastic support. Help Wanted The whole project is funded by the EU from its ADAPT and ESF programmes and is supported by a wide range of companies. We will be looking for people to pilot the final product in the autumn of this year and if you or your staff would like to be involved, please send an email to: iom@iomnet.org.uk. Page number: Page: 4 Word count: Words: 150 Related Topics:
	To read the articles you'll need Acrobat Reader. To download Acrobat Reader click the following button: To Save and Print the articles click the appropriate on-screen buttons or select Save or Print from the File menu at the top of the Acrobat window.