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Manufacturing systems design is a complex task and is crucial to the future of a company. Computer simulation provides an efficient and visual method for system designers. The popularity of simulation is owing to its ability to model systems in a fast and cost‐effective way, its flexibility and its ability to model the time dynamic behavior of systems. This paper demonstrates the use of computer simulation as a tool for assisting managers and engineers in the design and analysis of a new manufacturing system by presenting a case study. The case study is a study of proposed instrument panel/crashpad production and assembly work‐cells in an automotive industry. The emphasis on the case study was to evaluate alternative designs, predict system performance, detect any potential problems, experiment with system parameters and determine the sensitivity of the system to these parameters. The case study results show that computer simulation can be a useful decision‐making support tool for the analysis of the system performance and the selection of the design alternatives before the system is actually implemented.

This study explores the utilization of simulation tools for building performance assessments among design professionals in Ghana.

A quantitative approach was used to obtain responses from 104 design professionals in Ghana through a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was generated through a critical review of the related literature on the subject matter. Data from respondents were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results from the analysis indicated that design professionals in Ghana possessed a low level of awareness of the simulation tools used for building performance assessments. Subsequently, the findings also revealed that the design professionals' level of usage of the simulation tools was low.

Practically, the establishment of this study informs design stakeholders, educational institutions and researchers in Ghana. For design professionals, these findings will focus on enhancing their use of simulation tools for evaluating building performance in Ghana. For educational institutions, these findings will enable them to implement the necessary strategies for incorporating the concept of building performance simulation into their curriculum in order to boost awareness and utilization. Finally, researchers will also use the study's findings to identify any research gaps for future studies.

The findings from this study pioneer knowledge on an under-investigated topic within the Ghanaian construction industry. It also provides insight into the developing state-of-the-art technology employed in the built environment.

In performative architectural design, daylighting is a crucial design consideration; however, the evaluation of daylighting in the design process can be challenging. Immersive environments (IEs) can create a dynamic, multi-sensory, first-person view in computer-generated environments, and can improve designers' visual perception and awareness during performative design processes. This research addresses the need for interactive and integrated design tools for IEs toward better-performing architectural solutions in terms of daylighting illumination. In this context, building information modeling and performance simulations are identified as critical technologies to be integrated into performative architectural design.

This research adopts a design science research (DSR) methodology involving an iterative process of development, validation and improvement of a novel and immersive tool, HoloArch, that supports design development during daylighting-informed design processes. HoloArch was implemented in a game engine during a spiral software development process. HoloArch allows users to interact with, visualize, modify and explore architectural models. The evaluation is performed in two workshops and a user study. A hybrid approach that combines qualitative and quantitative data collection was adopted for evaluation. Qualitative data analyses involve interviews, while quantitative data analyses involve both daylighting simulations and questionnaires (e.g. technology acceptance model (TAM), presence and system usability scale (SUS)).

According to the questionnaire results, HoloArch had 92/100 for SUS, a mean value of 120.4 for presence questionnaire (PQ) and 9.4/10 for TAM. According to the simulation results, all participants improved the given building's daylighting performance using HoloArch. The interviews also indicated that HoloArch is an effective design tool in terms of augmented perception, continuous design processes, performative daylighting design and model interaction. However, challenges still remain regarding the complete integration of tools and simultaneous simulation visualization. The study concludes that IEs hold promising potentials where performative design actions at conceptual, spatial and architectural domains can take place interactively and simultaneously with immediate feedback.

The research integrates building information modeling (BIM), performative daylighting simulations and IEs in an interactive environment for the identification of potentials and limitations in performative architectural design. Different from existing immersive tools for architecture, HoloArch offers a continuous bidirectional workflow between BIM tools and IEs.

The paper provides an overview of research published in the innovation and operations management (IOM) literature on 15 methods for cost management in new product development, and it provides a comparison to an earlier review of the management accounting (MA) literature (Wouters & Morales, 2014).

This structured literature search covers papers published in 23 journals in IOM in the period 1990–2014.

The search yielded a sample of 208 unique papers with 275 results (one paper could refer to multiple cost management methods). The top 3 methods are modular design, component commonality, and product platforms, with 115 results (42%) together. In the MA literature, these three methods accounted for 29%, but target costing was the most researched cost management method by far (26%). Simulation is the most frequently used research method in the IOM literature, whereas this was averagely used in the MA literature; qualitative studies were the most frequently used research method in the MA literature, whereas this was averagely used in the IOM literature. We found a lot of papers presenting practical approaches or decision models as a further development of a particular cost management method, which is a clear difference from the MA literature.

This review focused on the same cost management methods, and future research could also consider other cost management methods which are likely to be more important in the IOM literature compared to the MA literature. Future research could also investigate innovative cost management practices in more detail through longitudinal case studies.

This review of research on methods for cost management published outside the MA literature provides an overview for MA researchers. It highlights key differences between both literatures in their research of the same cost management methods.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative approach to overcoming a common dilemma in designing negotiation simulations – that of situating a simulation in a real-life or fictitious context. This binary choice, which the authors call the negotiation designer’s dilemma, has profound implications for the types of learning activities and outcomes that can be integrated into the overall learning experience. As a way of overcoming the trade-offs inherent in this dilemma, the authors developed what they term hybrid simulations, which blend elements of fact and fiction in its contextual design in a particular way.

The authors were part of a negotiation simulation design team that used Design Thinking to understand the negotiation designer’s dilemma and to prototype and test a corresponding solution.

This paper demonstrates the benefits, potential applications and the how-to of hybrid simulations within the context of two such simulations the authors have designed at two different Swiss business schools. This paper concludes by discussing the potential and limitations for the application of hybrid simulations, as well as areas of potential further development.

The concept of a hybrid negotiation is a novel design trick that can be used in a variety of negotiation simulation contexts.

Set-based design (SBD) is a lean tool widely adopted for improving design processes and providing value maximization to clients. The purpose of this paper is to present the development and testing of a lean simulation game that incorporated point-based and SBD principles. The objective of the game was to enhance learning of lean design management among construction students.

After a thorough and comprehensive literature review consisting of secondary data in journal papers, books, thesis references and primary data in the form of interviews with lean practitioners, the simulation game prototype was developed. The testing of the game was carried out with a study group. Data were collected during the gameplay with the help of a questionnaire survey on a confidence scale and Likert scale and assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, histogram, one-sample t-test and false discovery rate (Benjamini–Hochberg) correction method.

The data collected both pre- and post-simulation showed an increase in average confidence in understanding from 3.33 to 3.89, a 16.7% rise. The data was further interpreted by using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, indicating that the post-simulation learning experience was significantly better than the pre-simulation one. Promising positive results were obtained for the questions on game design, engagement and understanding of point-based design and SBD concepts.

The simulation game helps bridge the gap between knowledge building and real-life by effectively imitating the process. The game facilitates a dynamic and critical approach toward developing new educational simulation games and their successful incorporation in propagating lean principles in the construction industry.

The paper offers an intelligent approach to analyze and determine the design parameters minimizing the total cost and achieving the desired performance measures in the maintenance float systems. The expected total cost in a maintenance float system includes the cost of lost production, the cost of repair persons and the cost of standby machines. The developed design procedure integrates simulation, metamodel and genetic algorithms. Neural networks are able to approximate functions based on a set of sample data, i.e. construct metamodels from simulation results in this study. The objective of metamodels is to predict simulation responses in order to significantly reduce the amount of simulation runs. The predictive performance of neural metamodels comparably outperforms the traditional regression metamodels. The neural metamodels are further extended to formulate a decision model for optimizing the maintenance float systems by using genetic algorithms.

Health-care simulation has evolved rapidly in the past few decades; it has become an integral component of education and training to improve the efficacy of both individuals and teams. Designing an optimal simulation-based learning space is a multitiered and multidisciplinary process involving architects, engineers and simulation educators. The purpose of this paper is to present the experience of designing a simulation center for a tertiary academic hospital.

The study is based on an in-depth analysis of the final structural blueprint of the center and qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with persons involved in the design process

Thematic analysis led to three thematic categories, namely, organization of space, equipment and administrative and staff requirements.

The paper describes the experience of designing one center within an academic tertiary setting. This experience may lack external validity and generalizability. Moreover, the operationality and functionality of the center have not been studied yet. Finally, the interviewees were interviewed post-design, which may pose as recall bias.

For future simulationists or educators attempting to undertake a simulation center design, this paper will help guide them to anticipate the needed human and technical resources and potential challenges.

The study offers recommendations meant to guide others attempting to design a simulation center within an academic institution.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the practical knowing that is central in police education. Drawing on perspectives about tacit knowledge and embodied learning (e.g. Merleau-Ponty, 1945/1997; Polanyi, 1966; Argyris and Schön, 1974) as well as empirical examples, this paper discusses the design of and what can be expected from computer simulation training for the development of police students’ professional knowing.

The discussion is based on lessons learned from working with two different computer simulation training situations designed to prepare the students for an upcoming practical training by facilitating the understanding of complex situations as they should be handled in the physical training situation.

The experiences from the training sessions showed that the different characteristics of the simulations mediate how the training session was performed, e.g., unplanned trial and error vs focused and attentive, but also group discussions about how to act and appropriate actions in relation to the situation to be solved in the simulation.

Based on the lessons learned from working with the two different computer simulations, it is posited that the use of computer simulations for practical scenario training is a complex endeavor that needs, in various degrees, to be supported by pedagogical steering. The design of computer simulation training (both the simulation and how the training is designed and performed) need to consider the specific aspects that surround tacit knowledge and embodied learning in the “real sense” (anchored to the practical training) to be of relevance for police students development of professional knowing.

Conventional lecture-based educational approaches alone might not be able to portray the complexity of disaster risk management practice and its real-life dynamics. One work-integrated learning practice that can give students practical work-related experiences is simulation-based learning. However, there is a limited discourse on simulation-based learning in disaster risk management education at the tertiary level. As tertiary education plays a crucial role in developing capabilities within the workforce, simulation-based learning can evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive fashion. This paper aims to present outcomes of simulation-based learning sessions the authors designed and delivered in a disaster risk management course.

The authors developed a framework to illustrate simulation-based learning in a disaster risk management programme. It was then used as a guide to design and execute simulation-based learning sessions. An autoethnographic methodology was then applied to reflectively narrate the experiences and feelings during the design and execution of the simulations.

The evaluation of the simulation sessions showed that participants were able to apply their knowledge and demonstrate the skills required to make critical decisions in disaster risk reduction. The conclusion from the simulation-based learning sessions is that making simulation-based learning a part of the pedagogy of disaster risk management education enables students to gain practical experience, deliberate ethical tensions and practical dilemmas and develop the ability to work with multiple perspectives.

The simulated workplace experience allowed students to experience decision-making as disaster risk management professionals, allowing them to integrate theory with practice.