Lean Games Approaches – Simulation Games and Digital Serious Games

Abstract

Training staff is one of the most important aspects of management and is crucial to the success of businesses in an increasingly competitive and globalized world. It is an investment that requires time and money; it needs to be effective and the selection of training methodologies and tools are fundamental to the success of a training program. Selecting the most suitable is not an easy task since it depends on the requirements of the target group and the training goals. This is typically the case for Lean training, where games are frequently used to illustrate the concepts and the application of lean tools. This paper presents and compares two different game approaches to lean training: a simulation game based on a single realistic manufacturing platform, involving production and assembly operations and a digital serious game that replicates a production environment that demonstrate the potential of lean tools. The results show that both approaches promote trainee motivation and knowledge acquisition and suggest that they can be used in a complementary way to achieve more effective learning results.