Pangiotis Petridis, Victoria Uren, Andrew Harrison

Developing a Serious Game for PSS

Business models

Costs Income

Equipment Sales

Spares

Production costs

Costs Income

Spares

Production costs

Pay Per Use

Traditional Manufacturer PSS

Design for Service

Improve:

Efficiency

Reliability

Ease of Servicing

Production costs may rise to reduce whole life costs

…this is counter intuitive for many designers

…but essential for economic viability of PSS.

History

Developed by Rolls-Royce

Used in scheduled Design for Service training sessions in the company

Also used at Cranfield University

Language of participants shifts towards PSS rather than manufacturing focus

First steps in cultural change

Engaging and memorable

Scenario

The game concerns the design and servicing of washing machines for a customer who runs a chain of laundrettes. Teams each represent competitors in the washing machine market and the aim is to maximise profits.

Round 1

3 design choices from catalogue of parts

Low cost options typically chosen

Feedback provided as Analyst’s report produced using Monte Carlo simulation

Learning point – understanding the requirement is key

Round 2

Interview a service engineer

remake 3 design choices considering component lifetime and cost per year

Learning point – a little service information goes a long way

Round 3

Only 2 design choices available

Players must be more selective and focus efforts on KPIs

Learning point – service costs aren’t linear, a few key drivers are key

Round 4

Only 1 design choice available

No longer constrained by the catalogue – facilitator applies cost & lifetime based on the catalogue

Learning point – innovation is a major opportunity

Limitations of the Face to Face game

Only suitable for scheduled training

Not usable for on-boarding

Not usable remotely, e.g. as part of a MOOC

Need to redesign the game as a self-contained virtual learning environment.

Requirements

1. Taught elements to be embedded within the game environment.

2. Interview with the service engineer to be delivered virtually, e.g. using an avatar.

3. Illusion of competition to be maintained even in a single player game.

Proposed Architecture

Drives the simulation,provides & interprets each step of the game

Stores scenarios and game data

Renders the game environment in Unity 3D, generates end-of-round reports, handles interactions between player & NPC

Abstracts the logic to access data, interacts with offline services e.g. caching

Summary

Serious games present opportunities to change working culture and mind sets to enable business transformation

Moving from paper games to virtual gaming environments enables more flexible training delivery