Jump the Curve — Helvetia Instruments AG
A senior-executive strategy simulation set at Helvetia Instruments AG, a CHF 1.9bn Zürich maker of precision laboratory and diagnostic instruments…
About this simulation
A 90-minute, 4-round basic Express simulation for Spanish vocational training (Formacion Profesional), module 1750 Organizacion de un taller artesano de instrumentos musicales of the Tecnico Superior en Diseno y construccion artesanal de instrumentos musicales de cuerda (Real Decreto 300/2026), also usable in modules 1766 Maderas y materiales and 1767 Tintes y barnices of the same title.
The learner is Irene Zafra, a newly qualified luthier who runs the buying, the bench plan and the sales of a fictional guitar-making workshop in Granada through 2029: classical and flamenco guitars to commission, a short series of student guitars and repairs, a varnishing booth and a loft where the wood dries.
Four situations set the year's course: a loft holding wood for about 140 guitars and a merchant's whole lot on offer, and how the wood is bought and dried (from the order book of the next three years, logged until it settles) and which work fills the bench (commissions with a deposit and a date, a short series, a day for repairs); a month of walk-in repairs, two old Rio rosewood guitars and finish faults, and how the repairs are taken (by appointment, the rosewood sold only with its certificate) and how the bench and the varnish run (batches of four, the varnish in the booth); a factory selling student guitars online and six fairs, and how the guitars are priced (from each model's cost sheet) and which fairs are attended (two chosen from the sales, never a factory guitar sold as handmade); and the Christmas quarter, and how it is staffed (one temporary technician, the commissions closed by date) and how the year is recorded (a workshop record with its causes).
Two critical errors cap the round: Rio rosewood put up for sale without a certificate and a factory guitar sold as handmade. KPIs: capital at work, controllable cost, days of delay per commission and customer complaints. Lesson: in a craft business the capital tied up in material sets the pace of the business. Spanish primary, English parity. Fictional workshop, company and people; real curriculum and rules cited.
What participants learn
After the session, participants will be able to:
- Calculate a tonewood purchase sized to the next three years' order book, keep a drying sheet showing when each board is ready, and explain why a workshop can hold too much wood that dries for years
- Evaluate how to fill the bench from the order book, with commissions taken with a deposit and a written date, a short series that sells on delivery and repairs on their own day, costing each option in idle capital and delay
- Apply bench organisation and the law: repairs by appointment, batches with the varnish in the booth, and refusing to sell an Annex A rosewood guitar without its certificate, with the reason
- Analyze a cost sheet for one model to set its price, choose fairs from last year's sales and separate an honest series from a factory guitar sold as handmade
- Plan the Christmas quarter with one temporary technician and a closing date, and design the workshop record that will make next January's buying plan better
Prerequisites
- Tonewoods and their drying
Who it is for
An introductory simulation that assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, designed for undergraduate courses. It also works in vocational and high-school programmes and in onboarding sessions.
How a session runs
- The instructor creates a session from the Eureka dashboard and invites the participants.
- Participants play 4 rounds. In each one they submit their decisions and the simulation calculates the results. The first round opens with: lunes 8 de enero, 9:30: la madera y el trabajo del banco.
- The simulation can be run in English, Español.
- The instructor follows each participant's progress and results from the dashboard, and uses the class results for the debrief.