Designing an Open Virtual Factory of Small and Medium sized Enterprises for Industrial Engineering Education

Designing an Open Virtual Factory of Small and Mediumsized Enterprises for Industrial Engineering Education
Muh. Hisjam

Melinda Sofi Safitri

Wahyudi Sutopo

Department of Industrial Engineering
Alumnus of Dept. of Industrial
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Sebelas Maret University
Engineering,Sebelas Maret University
Sebelas Maret University,
Jalan Ir. Sutami No. 36A, Kentingan, Jalan Ir. Sutami No. 36A, Kentingan, Jalan Ir. Sutami No. 36A, Kentingan,
Surakarta 57126
Surakarta 57126
Surakarta 57126

hisjam@uns.ac.id

rindu.syahidah@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Curriculum of Industrial Engineering program must accomplish
the requirement that graduates have the ability to design,
develop, implement, and improve integrated system that include
people, materials, equipment and energy. However, it is not easy
to implement a curriculum that fosters such competencies. One of
the strategies to achieve that is using an innovative learning
media, so that the problem-based learning (PBL) can be
accustomed. In this paper, we design a web-based enterprise
resources planning. It is aimed to capture the real problem of
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in bottled drinking
water industries. The integrated system can be illustrated as ERP
application that designed by using free open source software
(FOSS). This research aimed to utilize the application to improve
teaching methods in IE education. The result of the research can
be used to improve the competencies of IE students, especially the
abilities to identify, formulate, and solve the activities of the
business process improvement in SMEs.

Keywords
Industrial engineering education, FOSS, innovative learning
media, problem-based learning

1. INTRODUCTION
The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
(ABET) determine criteria for accrediting Engineering Programs
[1], [2]. Program criteria for Industrial Engineering (IE) must
accomplish the requirement that graduates have the ability to
design, develop, implement, and improve integrated system that
include people, materials, equipment and energy [2]. To comply
with the ABET engineering criteria, a program must formulate
program educational objectives and formulate a set of program
outcomes [3], [4]. The program must include in-depth instruction
to accomplish the integration of system using appropriate
analytical, computational, and experimental practices [2]-[3]. One
important instrument for matching the ABET engineering criteria
is the program curriculum, that consist of course syllabi, learning
objectives, teaching materials/course notes and assessment
methods to address the program outcomes.

The IE curriculum designated to address the knowledge, skills,
and attitudes specified in the student outcomes. It is required three
main activities (planning, instruction and assessment &

sutopo@uns.ac.id

evaluation) for designing the program curriculum [4]. One of
them, the planning is activity for identifying course content and
defining measurable learning objectives for it. Furthermore, the
problem-based learning (PBL) is teaching method to present
realistic and relevant problems of integrated system and to
contemplate approaches for solving them [4], [5]. The
characteristics of PBL are: a student-centered learning is driven
by challenging, draws on essentially constructivist principles of
learning, students work in small collaborative groups; and lecturer
as facilitators [5], [10], [13]. However, it is not easy to implement
a PBL curriculum that fosters such IE competencies.
On the other hand, a learning tool is a tool to deliver the message
of learning [6]. A good learning tool or teaching media can
activate learner in analytical, computational, and experimental

practices of a course [7], [8], [9], [12]. One of strategies to foster
the student outcomes is by using an innovative teaching media, so
that the PBL can be accustomed. Media-based instruction
methods have the ability to dramatically increase efficiency in the
classroom and capture students' attention [7], [9], [10], [11]. In
the last few years, there are several models available regarding
this issue [7], [8], [12], [14]. In fact, a lecturer still faces problems
for implementing such methods.
An effective media-based instruction method has to develop to
align with IE’s curriculum with PBL system in each of IE
program. In this paper, we can use FOSS to design an innovative
learning media as an Open Virtual Factory. We design to line up it
between PBL system and IE’s curriculum in IE department,
Sebelas Maret University. The real problem of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) in bottled drinking water factory is
proposed for illustrating realistic and relevant problems. We
design a web-based enterprise resource planning (ERP
application) to capture the virtual integrated system. This study
aimed to design an Open Virtual Factory of SMEs for teaching IE
Courses in IE Department, Sebelas Maret University.
This paper is organized as follows. In Section 1, we propose the

background of our research. In Section 2, we provide the literature
reviews to resume the PBL system and the previously learning
media models. In Section 3, we provide the methodology for
solving the problem. In Section 4, we design the Open Virtual
Factory. We introduce a user guide to use learning media for
teaching IE courses in Section 5. Section 6 summarizes and
concludes.

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Designing an Open Virtual Factory of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises for Industrial Engineering Education

2. THE INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
EDUCATION
Department of Industrial Engineering (IE) Sebelas Maret
University (IE-UNS) established in 1998. Now, the IE-UNS apply
third generation on the development of curriculum (2008-2013).
The IE-UNS offers undergraduate program study leading to the
Bachelor of Science degree (S.T.) [15]. The curriculum, which is
built upon a strong background in mathematics and the physical

and engineering sciences that are common to all engineering
disciplines, coupled with specialized study in subject areas such
as such as optimization, probability and statistics, computing,
economics, and psychology. There must be at least 144 hours of
courses. The IE-UNS curriculum is designed to prepare students
to become effective industrial engineers by enhancing their
technical expertise and exposing them to critical issues of
manufacturing system practice. IE graduates are well suited to
solve modern management problems, using sophisticated
quantitative analysis, and dealing with highly technical issues [16]
A good learning tool can give students a much better picture in
analytical, computational, and experimental practices of a course
[17]. It is require a complex ability for teaching IE subjects. For
supporting the teaching IE subjects, it is necessary to provide
industrial experience to allow students to enhance their learning
of the courses and practice engineering problem solving skills. In
the study of IE subjects, presently a change of learning and
teaching happens through the use of new media.
There are many students who prefer to play computer games than
study, and this provides the 'fun factor' from interactive computer

games while still being a vehicle to facilitate course-specific
learning [7]. For this reason, it is important to design “virtual
factory” for illustrating the critical issues of manufacturing
system. The virtual factory as virtual teaching media is the general
term for networks of virtual models and methods based on
simulation [14]. In the virtual labs construction, it is necessary to
see four basic areas: resource preparation, communication with
student, examination, and organizational part [9]. There are
several models of virtual labs, for instant LearNet (learning and
experimenting on real technical plants, www.learnet.de);
Learn2Control (project oriented multimedia learn environment for
control engineering, www.learn2control.de); and the international
projects are IECAT (Innovative Educational Concept for
Autonomous and Teleoperated Systems, http://www.ars.fhweingarten.de/iecat).

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
We proposed an Open Virtual Factory of SMEs for teaching IE
Courses IE Department, Sebelas Maret University. The
phenomenon problem was solved using four stages as shown in
Fig. 1.

- We simplify the real system of SMEs to illustrate the
integrated system then map the business process references
to capture inter-relation between each department. They are
production, logistics, marketing, and finance.
- We improve the application from previously research [20],
[21] especially the DBMS and the user Interface. The ERP
web-based was created for illustrating the Open Virtual
Factory.
26

- The application created by using Web Service Definition
Language (WSDL), object oriented programming method with
PHP, MySQL, and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).
- Then, we create the media-based instruction, which is a user
guide to use learning media for teaching IE courses.

Analyze the business process in a small-mid size
(SMEs) bottled drinking water [21 ].
The business process mapping
1. Simplifing the real system of SMEs to illustrate

the integrated system
2. Mapping the business process references to
capture inter-relation between each departments

The Development of an ERP Web-based as
Open Virtual Factory
Improve the application from previously research
[22], [23]:
- to improve the DBMS
- to improve the user Interface

The Media-based Instruction Method
(It discusses a user guide to use learning media for
teaching IE courses)

Figure 1. The development of an Open Virtual Factory as a
Learning Media

4. THE BUSINESS PROCESS MAPPING
Bottled water or any term of similar import means water obtained

from an approved source which is packaged for sale or
distribution. Drinking water means bottled water which has been
distilled, fluoridated or purified or which has been disinfected by
a process of ozonation and filtration or any substantially similar
disinfection process [18].
The real business process of small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) in bottled drinking water factory is mapped by [19].
Bottled water is produced using seven stages as shown in Fig. 2.
Stage P1 is source of water obtained from artesian well water or
well water. The distillation and disinfection activities are
processed at stage P2 to P6. Stage P7 is filling water into cup
(250 ml); bottles (600 ml and 1500 ml); and gallon.

Figure 2. A process of distillation in SMEs
We refer to [21] as business process standard in Virtual Factory of
SMEs (Fig. 3). The business processes begin production

Proceeding – ICOSic2010 UNS Solo Indonesia

considering sales data, production planning, and inventory. We

organize all activities into four departments which is production,
logistic, marketing and finance (Fig. 4). The Production
department is to organize the relationship production-supplier;
production-logistic; and production-finance. The logistics
department is to organize the relationship logistic-supplier;
logistic-production; and logistic-finance; logistic– marketing and
logistic-distributor. The marketing department is to organize the

relationship marketing-distributor, marketing finance and
marketing-logistic. The finance departments is the relationship
finance-distributor, finance-marketing, finance-logistic and
finance-production. To support the business processes
improvement well, it was necessary to design an information
system [20].

Figure 3. The Business Process Standard In Virtual Factory

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Designing an Open Virtual Factory of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises for Industrial Engineering Education

data; 4 documents and 5 reports. The outputs of user interface are
in monitor screen and in printer. Figure 7 is an example of the
user interface designed.

2.1

12

Production
11
9

Supplier
7

13
8

Web Browser
(Client - Production)

Web Browser
(Client - Logistic)

Logistic
10
Finance

2
6

`

`

PC / Laptop

PC / Laptop

Marketing
3

internet

4
5

1
MySQL

14

SCM Files
PHP Engine
PHPMyAdmin
Apache
SOAP Server

Distributor
DB Server

Figure 4. The coordination inter-department in SMEs

5. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPEN
VIRTUAL FACTORY
We improve the application from previously researches [20],[21]
to customize the DBMS and the user-interfaces. First, we design
the proposed system consist of 3 steps as follow: physical design,
logical design and context diagram. The phycical design shows
the structure of ERP menus. The logical design is pictured using
data flow diagram. And, the context diagram used to depict the
application flows when the application is evaluated by process
and performance views.
We use RDBMS (Relational Database Management System)
concept to support the business processes. This concept chosen
because it is familiar to software developers and there are many
application exist, include open source applications. Based on the
DFD developed of each module, we design tables needed in
database and after normalization process (24 tables).
The web interfaces developed using free open source software
which is WSDL, an Object Oriented package program module of
PHP, MySQL, and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). The
WSDL interface was used to communicate information between
different platforms that owned by each entity in the application
through the HTTP protocol. PHP was used as web programming
and MySQL was used as relational database structure. The layer
of application has five layers as follow: web application, SOAP
server, WSDL, database and operating system. The Open Virtual
Factory application is implemented by two sides, that is the client
side and the server side (Fig. 5).
User interface is designed to ease user to interact with the
information system. The user interface is written in Indonesian
language, because the users are Indonesian. Fig. 6 shows the
hierarchy of menu of the user interface. The user interfaces
designed are 4 forms for master data and 6 forms for transaction

28

Web Server

`
PC / Laptop

Web Browser
(Client - Finance)

`
PC / Laptop

Web Browser
(Client - Marketing)

Figure 5. The architecture of the Open Virtual Factory

6. THE MEDIA-BASED INSTRUCTION
METHOD
For implementing proposed learning media, we should propose
instruction method. The media-based instruction method is a
system that provides an instructor with tools to create and deliver
content, monitor student participation and assess student
performance the three stages are needed to design it as follows:
- the simple help guides for the system
- a repository for virtual learning materials and learner tracking
- the guidance for lecturer and students.
The hardware requirement for implementing this teaching media
is as follows:
- a personal computer for server with recommended
specifications: processor Intel dual core 2,4 GHz, RAM 2Ghz,
and Hard disk 40Gb SCSI.
- Database server with minimum specification IBM Server,
RAM 8Ghz, and Hard disk 240Gb SATA,
- PC Clients with minimum specifications: processor Pentium
III, RAM 256 Mb, Hard disk 20Gb and internet connection
10kbps.

Proceeding – ICOSic2010 UNS Solo Indonesia

MENU UTAMA

MENU PEMASARAN

MENU KEUANGAN

SETUP

SETUP

Pelanggan

MENU

MENU
Peramalan Penjualan

Transaksi Penjualan
Pembayaran Supplier

MENU PRODUKSI
SETUP
Bill Of Material
Kapasitas Produksi
MENU

Sales Order

Pendapatan

Jadwal Produksi

Faktur Penjualan

Biaya Overhead

Rencana Kebutuhan
Material

LAPORAN
Penjualan
Persediaan Poduk
Pengiriman

Biaya Tenaga Kerja
Biaya Operasional
LAPORAN
Penjualan
Persediaan BB
Persediaan Produk
Pengiriman
Pembayaran Supplier
Penerimaan Dstrbutor
Produksi
Rugi Laba

MENU LOGISTIK
SETUP
Bahan Baku
Produk
Supplier
MENU
Rencana Kebutuhan
Material

Transfer Bahan Baku

Request Order

Reguest Order Air

Purchase Order

Purchase Order Air

Terima Order

Terima Order Air

Kartu Stock BB

Transfer Bahan Baku

Transfer Bahan Baku

Hasil Produksi

Produk Masuk

LAPORAN
Penjualan
Produksi
Persediaan BB

Sales Order
Delivery Order
Retur Produk
LAPORAN

Persediaan Produk

Kartu Persediaan

Bill Of Material

Persediaan BB
Persediaan Produk
Pengiriman
Penjualan
Produksi

Figure 6. The hierarchy of menu of the user interface

Figure 7. User Interface sample of marketing module
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Designing an Open Virtual Factory of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises for Industrial Engineering Education

CONCLUSION
We have introduced the open virtual factory of SMEs to give an
example of real problems for IE education. Consider of the PBL
system and IE’s curriculum is important things to get the
innovative learning media for teaching IE Courses. The ERP webbased was created for illustrating the Open Virtual Factory by
using WSDL, PHP and MySQL. The PBL system using the Open
Virtual Factory involves students learning through engagement
with problems, rather than being learned with the conventional
lecture-tutorial approaches. The proposed system would improve
students’ learning experience, especially for identifying the real
problems in the bottled drinking water enterprise. The IE students
can enhance their understanding of the subject matter.
Furthermore, they can exercise to design, develop, implement, and
improve the integrated system by elaborating the real problems in
the open virtual SMEs.
This paper has certain limitations that should be overcome in
order to provide in deep analysis. For further research, this result
could be extended by further investigation as follow the testing
method to evaluate prototype and the experiment method to assess
the student’s performance. As any other open source application,
this application invites people around the world to complete the
model.

7. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees for comments
and recommendations that improved the paper. Research Grant
2010 from IE Department, Sebelas Maret University funds this
research.

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Proceeding – ICOSic2010 UNS Solo Indonesia

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