'Flight' simulator for managers has a real future

Citation

(1998), "'Flight' simulator for managers has a real future", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 70 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1998.12770eab.022

'Flight' simulator for managers has a real future

"Flight" simulator for managers has a real future

Keywords De Montfort, Flight simulators

Would-be pilots practice before flying an actual plane by using flight simulators. Imagine the benefits if future industrial planners could "pilot" a virtual company to predict the outcome of making different decisions. Researchers in the Systems Engineering Group at De Montfort University are working on software to deliver this to companies.

The group has also just started a £1.2 million research project to improve efficiency in the design of jet engines, a process which involves a large number of companies in the aerospace industry. The product introduction process simulation of the extended enterprise (PIPSEE) project will examine a range of business and technical processes in the supply chain of this industry. The project is in conjunction with the University of Wales and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with industrial support from Rolls-Royce plc, Lucas Aerospace, RHP Aerospace and Kidde Graviner.

Professor John Boardman, head of De Montfort University's Systems Engineering Group, said: "Most complex products in our world today emerge as the combined efforts of a large number of firms. We are working with the aerospace industry, but the generic principles involved could just as easily be applied to the automotive industry, where it has been estimated that 5 million people and 100,000 firms might be involved in the production of a vehicle. This 'meta-organisation' has been dubbed the 'extended enterprise'. Managers are still grappling both intellectually and practically with the principles of managing something that is beyond their immediate experience".

The end result of the PIPSEE project will be to produce a generic model ­ applicable to any extended enterprise to reduce the time bringing a product to market, increase responsiveness to customer needs and increase the effectiveness of the supply chain. "The ultimate application of this would be supply chains which practically organise themselves", said Professor Boardman. "This would make British companies more competitive in world markets. The idea of management flight simulators is not totally new. It originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. What is new is putting it together with the PIPSEE project to give managers the opportunity to 'pilot' an extended enterprise".

For more information about PIPSEE visit the Web site on http://www.seg2.dmu.ac.uk/pipsee