Team Member Guide

  Capstone Spreadsheet Simulation Rules

R & D

Companies need to carefully verify the coordinates entered in the Size and Performance cells. They should not enter 0 in these cells to terminate a sensor . Doing so will only create an unmarketable sensor (to terminate a sensor , sell all its Capacity on the Production Spreadsheet). Companies should make sure the coordinates entered fall within a segment circle. If they are outside of all segment circles they will not appeal to any customers and consequently will not sell.

When companies launch an R&D project they will see the project completion date in the Revision Date column. If an R&D project takes more than one year to complete, the company will not be able to start a follow-on project in the following round. Companies cannot start a new R&D project before the previous one completes (the entry cells for that sensor will be yellow- companies will be unable to enter new numbers). Also, the new coordinates will not appear in the next CapstoneĀ® Courier (the sensor is still at its old coordinates as of December 31 of the previous year).

Companies need to check Revision Dates carefully. Starting a second R&D project, or changing (on the Production Spreadsheet) the Automation level for a sensor in R&D will change the Revision Date.

The term Age and Perceived Age are used interchangeably. An existing sensor has its Age/Perceived Age cut in half on the day it emerges from an R&D repositioning project. For example, if a sensor with an Age/Perceived Age of 3.6 years is repositioned (revised) today, customers would perceive the Age to be 1.8 years. An R&D project that changes only MTBF (reliability) will not change Age/Perceived Age.

Sensor invention requires four entries: a Size value, a Performance value, an MTBF and a Name. To invent a sensor , enter a name in an NA cell.

Companies need to make sure that the new sensor name starts with the first letter of company's name.

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Companies need to be sure to purchase production Capacity and Automation for a new sensor one year prior to the sensor 's release.

During the R&D period, products continue to be produced at their old specifications (Size, Performance and MTBF). On the Revision Date, the sensor begins production at the new specifications. Any products in inventory are reworked to match the new specifications.

Your company must have at least one sensor model and cannot have more than eight.