Experimental Exploration of Decision Making in Production-inventory System

Despite availability of advanced decision aids, manufacturing managers should master basic control tasks within production systems. Still, there is substantial evidence that even highly educated and experienced practitioners mismanage even very simple production-inventory systems. We report an experimental study investigating strategies in a simple productioninventory control task. The study was conducted using an interactive computer simulator. Consistent with previous observations, the subjects failed to execute a satisfactory control in the first trial. Most, however, learned to manage the system as they gained experience. Application of single subject experimental design with think-aloud protocol and debriefing interviews allowed to identify strategies followed by the subjects. The paper reports on the key results of the study, discussing its implications for the production management research and practice.