A Systematic Literature Review on the Use of Simulators to Train Undergraduate Students in Logistics

Business and engineering education requires tools to expose students to the complexities of the logistics field beyond the experience provided in lectures and assigned readings. Up to this moment, logistics education can be complemented by simulators of different types. For instance, the well renowned beer game developed by MIT provides a vivid experience in the whip effect to undergraduate students. In fact, the beer game can be played in both a physical classroom or a virtual classroom and the same is true for other renown simulators. Another alternative to train students is the development of simulators that take different configurations of a supply chain to expose students to the variability and complexities of a real-world supply chain. This last alternative is referred to as supply chain or logistic laboratory. Despite the wide availability of tools, there is a paucity in the knowledge on how many simulators are and how effective each simulator is to train undergraduate students in logistics. To address this issue, this work performs a systematic literature review to map both the types of simulators and how effective each simulator has been in undergraduate education.