Teaching Predictive Simulation in Malaysia

The widespread use of WITNESS in academia is testament to the value it brings to students and their future employers, which is why it is taught in hundreds of Universities and Colleges around the world. In this guest blog Dr Chong Kuan, from The Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Malaysia, discusses the important role WITNESS plays in preparing students for their future manufacturing careers. 

Malaysia is currently the 3rd largest economy in Southeast Asia, and with its governments ‘New Economic Model’ framework, which looks to grow the country’s economy by investing in areas such as R&D, ICT, green technology and healthcare, they hope to continue to increase the country’s GDP. To help achieve this, public tertiary education is heavily subsidised by the government.

The Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UteM), Malaysia, teaches WITNESS to all final year students who are part of the Faculty of Manufacturing & Engineering. Through two separate modules, students learn how to model complex processes using WITNESS, and how to use it as a tool to validate solutions and solve problems within real life business scenarios.

To enable students to immerse themselves in WITNESS and its applications, they are tasked with collecting data and requirements from various industrial settings. They then use the information gathered to design and build simulation models, which they then test and validate with suggested process improvements. The models cover a wide range of sectors and applications, from modelling hospital services, assembly lines and whole factories to everyday situations such as car parks and supermarkets. This approach allows students to experiment with the software in a variety of environments, preparing them for real world applications of simulation in the future.

WITNESS also plays a crucial part in the post-graduate Masters and Doctorate studies within the Faculty of Manufacturing & Engineering, where predictive simulation is applied to complex research projects. Some areas of research where WITNESS has recently been used includes the study of Work in Progress (WIP) inventory in manufacturing, the implementation of different approaches within an established process, cost forecasting and complex factory processes.

Dr Chong Kuan of the UTeM says “UTeM has used WITNESS since 2004 in the Faculty of Manufacturing & Engineering. It is an excellent tool which gives students the ‘manufacturing building blocks’ they need in their future careers.”

The Manufacturing & Engineering Program at UTeM is developed to instil a strong engineering foundation, so that graduates of the program are proficient in solving manufacturing and engineering related problems in their career.

http://www.utem.edu.my/fkp/en/about.html

Dr Chong Kuan is Associate Professor and a course Director in the Faculty of Management. He holds a Ph.D. Operations Management and has research interests in Supply Chain Management and Operations Management. He gained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in the United Kingdom.