©

THE TOOTHPICK FACTORY

A Simulation Game for the Workplace Skills

FLATE
Florida’s Advanced Technological
Education Center of Excellence
NSF Advanced Technological Education

Partners with Industry for a new American Workforce

The Toothpick Factory

2
 FLATE’s vision
FLATE will be Florida’s
leading resource for
education and training
expertise, leadership,
projects, and services to
promote and support the
workforce in the high
performance production and
manufacturing community.

IMPACT FLORIDA, LEAD NATIONALLY

 The Toothpick Factory©

 Simulation game to teach workplace skills

 Workplace setting
 Applicable to many audiences
 Active learning/“practicing”
 Self assessment / group discussion
 Introductory & advanced modules

The Toothpick Factory

 OVERVIEW
 Workplace Skills - What and why?
 The Toothpick Factory – Overview & participation

The Toothpick Factory

 SKILLS?
 “Hard/ Technical Skills
• Education and experience
• What you know
• What you can do

 Workplace Skills
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Listen, learn and lead
•
The Toothpick Factory
The Toothpick Factory
http://cte.ed.gov/nationalinitiatives/e
mployability.cfm?&pass_dis=1
 WORKPLACE SKILLS

What workplace skills do your industry partners

say they are NOT getting?

The Toothpick Factory

 WORKPLACE SKILLS

Teamwork

Leading Listening

Adapting Speaking

The Toothpick Factory

 LISTENING

 NOT the same as hearing

 Implies understanding

 Passive listening

 Active listening

The Toothpick Factory

 SPEAKING

TONE

LEVEL
CLARITY
The Toothpick Factory
ADAPTING

Increases stress

The Toothpick Factory

 LEADING
Influencing
Mentoring
Coaching

ANYONE can be a leader

The Toothpick Factory

 WORKING in TEAMS
Good communication
Flexibility

Time management

Respect

Common goals

The Toothpick Factory

 WHY?
Empowerment

Increases promotion potential

The Toothpick Factory

 WHY?
1. Company reputation

2. Team oriented employees

3. Morale builders

4. Well-rounded employee

The Toothpick Factory

 PRACTICE

You are ALL now employed at the

The Toothpick Factory

 TOOTHPICK FACTORY
Setting the stage … Makers of Fine Custom Toothpicks

The Toothpick Factory

 ROLES / JOBS
Client Team Production Team
Pre-
Production

Quality
Production
Control

Finishing

The Toothpick Factory

SIMULATION TOOLS

The Toothpick Factory

“PRODUCTION” TOOLS
TEAM NAME:
Instructions
Your Quality Control Representative will use this scorecard to track your
team’s production record. The goal of the game is to work effectively
and produce the greatest number of orders with minimum rejects.
Order # Accepted Rejected Wasted
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Tota
l

The Toothpick Factory

 “CLIENT” TOOLS
Finished Order Tracking
Team
Put completed toothpicks HERE:

TEAM NAME: name_______________

Instructions
Use this card to keep track of the team’s production. If you
“reject” an order, be specific on “why” the order was rejected.
Order # Accept Reject Reason sent back
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Tota
l

The Toothpick Factory

 RECORD KEEPING
• Number of toothpicks completed
– Completed = # finished that passed quality
inspection
• Number rejected and why
– how many had to be re-worked?
• Total # stock toothpicks used during production
• Percent productivity (# completed/# used)

The Toothpick Factory

 GAME RULES

Goal : you have ___ minutes to complete as many

orders as possible, with the least amount of wasted
materials.

START NOW 
The Toothpick Factory
 TIME IS UP!

Turn in ALL orders, even if they

are not complete.

The Toothpick Factory

 SOFT SKILLS SCORECARD

Be honest

Use for discussion

The Toothpick Factory

 Soft Skills Scorecard
FLATE – www.fl.ate.org

How often did you practice the actions today?

Clusters Actions Not much A little A lot
Listen to and understand instructions. • ‚ ƒ
Listening • ‚ ƒ
Listen to someone’s request, comment, or question before responding.

Receive feedback in appropriate way. • ‚ ƒ

Listen to the needs and ideas of others with respect. • ‚ ƒ

Work with peers to establish goals, tasks, and processes. • ‚ ƒ

Working in Value everyone’s input. • ‚ ƒ
Teams Encourage cooperation between peers. • ‚ ƒ
Work collaboratively with others. • ‚ ƒ
Work with peers to resolve conflicts. • ‚ ƒ

Influence others to accomplish quality. • ‚ ƒ

Leading Motivate others through positive affirmations. • ‚ ƒ
• ‚ ƒ
Encourage collective agreements.
• ‚ ƒ
Provide praise and recognition.

Provide timely feedback to improve results. • ‚ ƒ

Express receptivity to input from peers. • ‚ ƒ

Adapting Quickly accommodate to changing conditions. • ‚ ƒ

Change production and inspection methods to improve quality. • ‚ ƒ

Ask adequate and timely questions. • ‚ ƒ

Speaking • ‚ ƒ
Makes clear and specific requests.

Makes clear and specific promises or commitments. • ‚ ƒ

Communicate with a clear voice. • ‚ ƒ

• ‚ ƒ
Presents ideas calmly and clearly.

Add the points in each column

Add all three columns. TOTAL SCORE
 WHAT DID WE LEARN?
 What did your team do well?

 Not so well? Why?

 What Skills did you use?

 What were some obstacles you faced?

 Do you have a better understanding of Workplace Skills?

The Toothpick Factory

TEAM RESULTS

The Toothpick Factory

 TEAM CHART- example

Team Name Order # Completed Rejected Wasted Used % Complete

Team 1 1 8 3 2 10 80.00%

Team 1 2 8 4 3 11 72.73%

Team 1 3 8 5 4 12 66.67%

Total 24 12 9 33 72.73%

TOTAL COMPLETED 24 = 72.73%

TOTAL USED 33

The Toothpick Factory

 REVIEW

 What are workplace skills?

 Why are they important?
 How do they benefit you?
 Why do employers care about them?
 What did the Toothpick Factory teach us about using
them?

The Toothpick Factory

 Workplace Employers
Importance
Skills  Wa n t
 Teamwork employees  Increases
who work well your
 Listening
with others promotion
 Speaking potential
 Company
 Adapting  Empowerment
reputation
 Leading  Creates
 Moral builders
opportunities
 Well-rounded
employee

The Toothpick Factory

 ROUND 1

Questions?
Comments?
Discussion?

The Toothpick Factory

 ROUND 2

Or, out of the

training room
and … onto the
production floor!

The Toothpick Factory

ROUND 2:
You have ___ minutes to complete
as many orders as possible, with
the least amount of wasted
materials.

START NOW 
The Toothpick Factory
 TIME IS UP!

Turn in ALL orders, even if they

are not complete.

The Toothpick Factory

MARKET RESPONSE CARDs (MRC)

• What are they?

• Different types?
• Why are they
important?
• How to implement?
• Facilitator challenge

The Toothpick Factory

 REAL WORLD SCENARIOS

INNOVATE
The Toothpick Factory
 WHAT DO THEY ADD TO THE GAME?

• Creates change
• Increases stress
• Tests adaptability
• Challenges creativeness
• Requires use of workplace skills

The Toothpick Factory

 IMPLEMENTATION
Who is responsible for delivering the MRC?
 Client Team OR Facilitator

Ways to implement Market Response Cards (MRC)

 Implement 1 MRC for all the teams.
 Implement 2 MRCs not all teams will have the same
card.
 Implement multiple MRCs (randomly distributed)

The Toothpick Factory

 WHAT DID WE LEARN?

 What did your team do well?

 Not so well? Why?
 What Soft Skills did you use?
 What obstacles you faced?
 Do you have a better understanding
of Workplace Skills?

The Toothpick Factory

 REVIEW
 What was the impact of the MRCs?

 Round 1 vs. Round 2

 Improving workplace skills

 Productivity calculations

The Toothpick Factory

FACILITATOR CHALLENGE – Group Activity

• How do you teach workplace skills?

• How do reinforce their practice?
• How would you implement the
Toothpick Factory?
• Ideas for extensions?
• Ideas for additional MRC?

The Toothpick Factory

 IMPACT

1. Standard Workshop
- Delivered to over 200 students.
- Audience = from educators to
workforce personnel.

2. Train the Trainer Workshop

- Presented to over 350 faculty.
- Audience = Post secondary, secondary
educators and industry.
- Train attendees how to facilitate the
workshop in their classroom/training center.

The Toothpick Factory

 IMPACT … what they say…
“I see the value in “I would recommend “The activity was
using this activity” this activity to engaging”
others”

Strongly Agree … 97% Strongly agree..91% Strongly Agree … 85%

Agree … 3% Agree …9% Agree..15%

The Toothpick Factory

 KIT CONTENTS
• Participant Instructions
• Job Function Cards
• Production Record Card
• Soft skills Scorecard
• Nail clippers
• Nail files
• Toothpicks
• Measuring tools
• Client Response Cards
• Client Cards
• Market Response Cards
• Facilitator Guide
• Soft Skills Presentation

The Toothpick Factory

 Marilyn Barger, Ph.D., P.E.
Executive Director, FLATE
[email protected]
813.259.6578

www.fl-ate.org
www.madeinflorida.org
www.pbwiki.com
This presentation will be posted on
FLATE’s wiki presentation pages:
http://flate.pbworks.com/