Buzz Digital
Lean Manufacturing Simulation
Buzz Electronics is the first of its kind virtual training simulation that aims to teach Toyota's lean manufacturing principles virtually.
Typically, training of lean manufacturing concepts has been delivered to manufacturers on-site and in-person using a series of interactive workshops and exercises. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, this mode of delivery poses significant health and safety issues. The virtual nature of this project was a response to 2020s global pandemic.
The training software will be installed on a set of tablets that will be distributed to the users/organizations that have requested the training.
Project Design
I began working on this project in September 2020. It was essential to build a background in lean manufacturing before designing the game. I attended live workshops and online research on the subject.
Game Design was shared between myself and the artist on the team . Together we came up with a sci fi canister concept for the players to assemble.
Networking
The game is played in a series of rounds , where players work as a team by passing different assembled parts to each other over a network. The tablets are connected via mobile hotspot to reduce complexities when shipping the tablets to different locations.
Prior to this job, I had no experience in writing networking infrastructure. But thanks to a few well written tutorials and C# documentation I was able to get the requirements for this games connectivity up and running in less than a month.
Current State
This game is in the final stage of development. We are conducting our final UX sessions and bug fixes during fall, with plans to release into the field May 2022.
Tutorial V4
(Gameplay not final)
Tutorial V3
(Gameplay not final)
Tutorial V1
(Gameplay not final)
Preview
(Gameplay not final)
This preview is batch processing which is meant to be tedious and inefficient. (An interesting thing to design for in games), the gameplay improves over the course of the simulation.
This project has caught the eye of many people and we've done a number of presentations to show it off.
Presentations
Wisconsin Board of Regents
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System consists of 18 members, 16 of whom are appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The Board is responsible for establishing policies and rules for governing the System, planning to meet future state needs for collegiate education, setting admission standards and policies, reviewing and approving university budgets, and establishing the regulatory framework within which the individual units are allowed to operate with as great a degree of autonomy as possible.