Ramanan S. Tiruvannamalai graduated from department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in August 2004.  He also has a B. E (ME) in Madras University(1999), India.

Thesis title: Interactive web-based virtual factory model for teaching production systems concepts.

(2004)

Abstract

Structured teaching environments provided by many schools and universities for production systems courses focus on acquiring knowledge based on books and case studies. But the ultimate outcome of knowledge and skill acquisition gained through structured teaching environments, does not too often result in the ability to apply knowledge appropriately to different situations. The main objective of this thesis is to design and develop a web-based interactive Virtual Factory (VF) model, which will help students to understand, synthesize and transfer the knowledge learned in class to a complex real life production environment. The factory model for this thesis was made using the discrete event simulation tool, QUEST (Hugan, 1993). The Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) was used for web enabling the factory simulation model and to provide 3D visualization of the shop floor. The students can navigate in the web-based factory model and can interact with the resources, change parameters, add new resources, and simulate several ‘what-if’ scenarios to analyze the impact on the whole system. The web-enabled feature provides anytime, anywhere access to students for understanding the factory dynamics and tradeoffs between different elements of the factory. The proposed web based VF model, will be an effective teaching tool for enhancing student education by complementing traditional instruction methods.