Improving decision making in product modularization by game-based management training

To deal with the complexity caused by a constantly increasing need for product customization many companies have adopted a product modularization strategy. Product modularization has the potential to give benefits both in the design of products, in manufacturing as well as in the supply chain. But, it poses great challenges in its implementation, which includes complex decision-making that will affect the whole value-chain. The purpose of this paper is to describe how a game-based approach can be used for academic education, and management training, with the aim of improving decision-making in product modularization. This by visualizing, and practice, the complex interplay between product, manufacturing and supply chain architecture. The paper describes the development of the LEGO Exploratorium game set up, based on the LEGO minifigures, and how it has been used for both teaching engineering students and in company workshop. Using this game set up will increase companies’ possibilities to develop modularized products that are designed for both efficient manufacturing and supply chain management

The Cowl - Orientation Issue n.6 - Jul 15, 1987

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Orientation Issue No. 6 - July 15, 1987. 12 pages

Arcade Britannia

The story of the British amusement arcade from the 1800s to the present. Amusement arcades are an important part of British culture, yet discussions of them tend to be based on American models. Alan Meades, who spent his childhood happily playing in British seaside arcades, presents the history of the arcade from its origins in traveling fairs of the 1800s to the present. Drawing on firsthand accounts of industry members and archival sources, including rare photographs and trade publications, he tells the story of the first arcades, the people who made the machines, the rise of video games, and the legislative and economic challenges spurred by public fears of moral decline. Arcade Britannia highlights the differences between British and North American arcades, especially in terms of the complex relationship between gambling and amusements. He also underlines Britain's role in introducing coin-operated technologies into Europe, as well as the industry's close links to America and, especially, Japan. He shows how the British arcade is a product of centuries of public play, gambling, entrepreneurship, and mechanization. Examining the arcade's history through technological, social, cultural, biographic, and legislative perspectives, he describes a pendulum shift between control and liberalization, as well as the continued efforts of concerned moralists to limit and regulate public play. Finally, he recounts the impact on the industry of legislative challenges that included vicious taxation, questions of whether copyright law applied to video-game code, and the peculiar moment when every arcade game in Britain was considered a cinema

To be Young! : Youth and the Future. Proceedings of the Conference “To be Young! Youth and the Future”, 6–8 June 2012, Turku, Finland

What does it mean to be young today and what will it mean in the coming years in this rapidly changing world? What the future of youth could be and look like? The aim of the “To be Young” conference in July 2012 was to perceive and create futures through the eyes of today’s youth, adults and decision makers for the young people of the future. The course of a youth’s life, both today and toward the future covers an entire spectrum of reality. Focusing on faith in young people, their ability and determination to build an inevitably different and in many ways and hopefully improved world for us all to live in was the focal point of this conference. This book collects some of the presentations and papers presented in the conference. Articles selected in this book cover several approaches of youth research. Topics include politics, education, gender questions, futures methodologies, young immigrants just to mention a few. We thank the authors and referees for their work. The conference was organized in association with the Finland Futures Academy and the Finnish Youth Research Network. The “To Be Young” conference marked Finland Futures Research Centre’s 14th Annual International Conference and its 20th Anniversary celebrating twenty years of academic research, education and development work

Breaking Down the Chain: A Guide to the Soft Drink Industry

Provides an overview of the soft drink industry's earnings, structure, markets, and determinants of demand; major players; supply chain; marketing strategies; and policy and legislative actions in response to the sugar-sweetened beverage tax

Smartphones

Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones

City of Ideas: Reinventing Boston's Innovation Economy: The Boston Indicators Report 2012

Analyzes indicators of the city's economic, social, and technological progress; potential for creating innovative solutions to global and national challenges; and complexities, disparities, and weaknesses in the indicators and innovation economy paradigm