| Game-playing: Programs that feed friendly contests internally can give companies a competitive edge |
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Don Hendry, The Globe and Mail, November 17, 2006 Computer games were far from the minds of executives at Nova Chemicals Corp. when they launched a manufacturing excellence program at the Calgary company. After all, trying to improve operational capacity for a company that develops and manufactures plastics and chemicals seems as about as far from an Xbox as you can get when it comes to computer use. Nonetheless, an impromptu game and competition among company technicians ended up delivering a welcome shot in the arm to the program at a critical time. It was happenstance in Nova's case: Complex manufacturing data boiled down to a simple chart – a squiggly red line representing the plant's actual production levels and a gently flowing green line representing its theoretical capacity. Tweak conditions on the plant floor to optimize production, and sooner or later the gap disappears. The data also sparked a game. When they got their hands on the chart, operators began competing to see who could hype production enough to make the lines merge. “It was really a fascinating thing to watch,” says Alan Schrob, director of Nova's manufacturing excellence program. It's an example that offers lessons for anyone whose employees face long days and nights in front of densely laden computer screens. Software giant SAP AG of Germany, for one, says situations that encourage such user engagement are likely to become more common. Joel Martin, vice-president, enterprise software with Toronto-based IDC Canada, agrees. Accidentally or not, he says, Nova's manufacturing excellence team was on to something big. Graphic presentations that enable people to see exactly where they're trying to go are driving the market right now, he says. And presentations that engender competition are all the better. “The neat thing about something like that is that it also spurs innovation. People start thinking: ‘How do we actually get the extra point and what can we change in the business to achieve that?” Such use of video games, whether online or inside a company, leverages the availability of information, high-definition graphics, computing power and networking, he says. “They train employees or encourage them to develop new skills, innovate on existing business operations and fundamentally become more engaged with the tasks at hand,” he says. “People get excited about performing their job better than the next guy – all the while having fun.” The theory was proven in spades at Nova. Its manufacturing excellence program – aimed at improving operational performance by identifying unused capacity and raising production rates – uses manufacturing software from SAP and model predictive programs from Texas-based Pavilion Technologies. The process was refined last year in a pilot project at Nova's polyethylene plant in Joffre, Alta. In Joffre, massive amounts of data were being collected from the plant and downloaded into spreadsheets for analysis. “They'd be able to tell you what happened last week,” says Mr. Schrob. “But if you're asking your operators and your first-line engineers to find ways to improve plant operation, it's not really that good. “What we wanted was to put in front of our operators information that would allow them to increase capacity utilization in real time. And that's what we set out to do.” On a Friday, Mr. Schrob's team of Nova and Pavilion engineers generated calculations to give plant operators the timely data they needed, in the process creating that built-in challenge – the chart comparing what was actually taking place with what was possible. Then they went home for the weekend. Enter the nascent gamers.“On Monday I get a call from the process engineer, and he's excited,” Mr. Schrob recalls. “Over the weekend the operators could see: ‘Here's what Pavilion is predicting I should be able to produce, and here's what we are actually producing.' ” “They were trying really hard to move the red line – the actual – closer to the green line – the theoretical. And so in effect they were kind of competing with each other to see who could push the plant that much harder within its constraints,” he says. Is there a lesson to be learned from the fact that competition emerged naturally? “Absolutely,” he says. “It goes back to the idea that putting this information in front of folks is going to drive different behaviours. And if we can do this through data that allows people to act immediately, then that's our key objective. “And if it creates a little competition between our operators and our first-line folks who actually spend their time running that plant 24 hours a day, then that's a side benefit. That will essentially drive our ability to run that plant more efficiently,” he added. That sort of user interface is something SAP wants to foster, says Henning Kagerman, chair of the executive board of SAP. “It is an old idea and one we always wanted to implement, but it is only now that the technology has reached the point where it is possible,” he said. “Our goal is to soon have all our processes presented to users in a form as engaging and easy to use as video games.” From virtual reality to real-world applications Organizations from across the globe are borrowing from the world of video games to get results in real-world settings, according to Joel Martin, vice-president, enterprise software, at IDC Canada. Some examples:
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