Design of individual simulation games in manufacturing companies for game-based learning

The digital transformation of manufacturing companies is a huge driver of complexity in organizational structures and processes. Challenges such as an increasing number of variants, rapid changes in technology, and a multitude of interfaces between IT systems within companies require changed qualifications in the workforce. Employees lack a profound understanding of the added value that digitalization can bring to the company and themselves. To address these challenges, simulation games are a suitable approach. Simulation games are active learning methods that simulate real systems in an artificial environment. The goal is to give employees the opportunity to gain experience and make decisions without creating a pressure situation or endangering the real production system. This enables them to better understand, evaluate and design real systems. In order to make optimal use of simulation games in manufacturing companies, they should be customized to the company and its employees due to individual processes and structures. This paper presents a procedure model for designing a concept of individualized simulation games for manufacturing companies in the context of digitalization. It starts with the identification of requirements. Subsequently, the requirements of the individual elements are combined into a holistic simulation game. The piloting of the framework is presented using an example from industrial practice.