Organizational simulation in support of global manufacturing enterprises

In the past several decades, manufacturing has begun the process of transforming from a production firm centric enterprise into one in which a lead firm engages multiple partner and supplier firms in a networked enterprise to produce complex systems and products. Inherent in this transformation is the notion of global manufacturing as a socio-technical enterprise, co-emphasizing socio-interaction among firms with the more traditional technical focus on meeting production quotas, minimizing costs and maximizing profits. This chapter presents the methodology of organizational simulation as applied to the study and analysis of global manufacturing.

Computer simulation has a rich history of application in analyzing the behavior and performance of manufacturing systems from a technical perspective, focusing on such concepts as forecasted product demand, production capacities and lead times, transportation capacities and lead times, inventory locations and levels, and production schedules, as well uncertainties associated with these factors. This perspective fails to consider socio-behaviors associated with firms and their interactions.

Organizational simulation is a new paradigm whereby technical process modeling and social behavior modeling are combined to represent the behavior and predict the performance of the socio-technical enterprise. It has been applied in military acquisition, product design and health care. This chapter presents its application in global manufacturing enterprises, particularly to the issues of stakeholder alignment during change, alignment of stakeholder expectations and allocation of limited shared resources.