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Keeping the Lights on in Africa

The Connector - Fall 2015 Issue

Stella Helps Eskom Keep the Lights on in South Africa

Nalini Sooknanan Pillay Nalini Sooknanan Pillay

Most of us only think about electricity when we don’t have it. We’re annoyed when a power outage keeps us from binge watching our favorite show or reading the new bestseller. We’re worried when inefficient power generation and delivery block school students from technology, present challenges to medical professionals and their patients, or throttle manufacturing productivity. The staff at Eskom thinks about electricity every minute of every day; about sustainably producing it, about efficiently distributing it, and about keeping power generation plants and the grid up and running.

That requires us to move away from a linear problem-solving approach toward one that allows us to build in causality and feedback loops and identify unintended consequences

Eskom generates, transmits, and distributes almost all the electricity – about 95% - used in South Africa and about 45% of the electricity used on the African continent. Their market dominance positions Eskom as a strategic contributor to South Africa’s economic development and growth and mandates that the company provide electricity in an efficient and sustainable manner.

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TexPREP and Stella Engage Young STEM Students in Systems Thinking

Ben Jurewicz Ben Jurewicz

The more we understand the complexity of current world problems, the harder we cross our fingers that high school and college students are preparing to solve them. Inspiring more students to study and enter careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is one way to make sure the next generation is equipped for the world they’re inheriting. As important, STEM students need to practice taking a big picture, Systems Thinking approach to understanding problems and finding the best solutions.

We have to teach from the ground up using an example that they care about

“Systems Thinking is a core skill that needs to be taught as early as students are able to understand it,” says Ben Jurewicz, Adjunct Professor, Saint Mary’s University. That opinion is the product of Jurewicz’s education which includes graduate work at MIT and long tenure as a systems engineer. “I’ve worked in aerospace; I was in the Apollo program and was VP of Engineering at Sperry Corporation, and, as a consultant, applied system dynamics to IT, financial services, electronics, and other issues. Through all those experiences, I encountered very few people who understand whole systems. It’s a real deficiency in our educational system.”

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Systems in Focus

Systems are all around us. Using Systems Thinking, we can better understand them by building models that can be simulated. These videos show common systems overlaid with the underlying dynamics that make them behave as they do. By looking beneath the surface, we are better able to bring these systems into focus. An example of a simple bottle manufacturing process is our most recent System in Focus.

Before we can model the process however, we need to consider the supplies required to create the final product

The modern assembly line is one of the greatest and now most common manufacturing process concepts in history. It was created to save time and money, and to increase the overall quality of the output. By mechanically moving parts in a line through a factory to different work stations, a product can systematically be built up piece by piece, while decreasing time spent moving parts. This process was perfected and used most famously by Henry Ford in the 1920s

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Looking for more Systems in Focus?

From Imagination to Simulation

A scraping, kind of shuffling noise woke me from a dreamless sleep. I didn’t know where I was and I didn’t recognize the sound. My smartphone told me it was 2 am and by its illumination, I saw the stacked hay bales surrounding me. In a flash, it all came back to me. The mad race from Chicago to New York to London to Paris and finally to this small, remote farm in the French countryside, the one place I thought I could escape them. It wasn’t true, after all, that they were only in the cities. They’ve taken over the entire world with their scraping, shuffling gait and their dead, dead eyes. There must only be a few of us left now… How much longer can we hold out?

This series showcases the versatility of Systems Thinking

This is just one possible outcome to the…zombie apocalypse! Welcome to our new modeling series, From Imagination to Simulation, which investigates out-of-the-ordinary problems and examines creative “What If?” scenarios. This series showcases the versatility of Systems Thinking while demonstrating how fun it can be along the way!

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Stella Professional Keeps Getting Better

With the latest update, Stella Professional continues to improve upon it's user experience! From the new Import Panel to creative new ways to add variables to graphs and tables, users will be pleased with the new features and attention to even the smallest of details.

Still haven't tried Stella Professional or want to learn more? Join us for a free webinar on Tuesday, October 27th from 12:00 – 1:00 EDT in which you will get a full “show and tell” demonstration from one of our leading developers, with time for questions and answers at the end.

Our software engineers have transformed the systems thinking software that you know and love, to create the next generation of modeling tools

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Looking for more recorded tutorials?

On the Road

This autumn will be a busy season for isee co-president Karim Chichakly! First, Karim will be attending the 3rd Brazilian Systems Dynamic Symposium and Workshop in São Paulo, Brazil from October 16-17th! Karim will be a guest speaker at the symposium and discuss why projects consistently fail and how systems thinking can help. The following day he, along with fellow systems thinker Andrew Ford, will instruct a full day workshop for attendees. This workshop will focus on engaging stakeholders and clients in system dynamic models!

Directly following the Brazilian Symposium, Karim will hop over to Columbia for the 13th annual Congreso Latinoamericano de Dinamica de Sistemas (CLADS) in Cartagena de Indias, Columbia from October 21st – 23rd. This will be our second time attending this conference and we are excited to once again showcase our software and meet fellow practitioners of the Latin chapter of the Systems Dynamic Society. Karim will give a talk at this conference as well as conduct introduction and intermediate workshops for attendees.

Advanced Modeling Series

Are you comfortable with the basics of dynamic modeling? Would you like to advance to a higher level? Do you have specific applications you’d like to model, but are not quite sure where to start? Our new Advanced Modeling series offers courses centered on the application of dynamic modeling to specific topic areas. Common problems and approaches are presented, along with sample models to get you started!

Strategic Business Development, explores strategic management issues and the challenge of turning strategic objectives into winning operational objectives

Our first course in the series, Modeling Projects, highlights some of the competing forces that make successful project management a challenge, as well as some ways to counteract these forces.

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Looking for more training?

Subscriptions

isee systems now offers 2- and 6- month subscriptions to our STELLA/iThink 10.1 and Stella Professional Software. This new packaging offers allows users to choose the modeling software that fits their project, time frame, and budget. Each limited-duration subscription for a non-academic license can be purchased and renewed in periods of either two or six months.

Recent Posts

Fall 2018 Issue

Public health organizations combat alcoholism with Stella, the Social System Design Lab applies system dynamics to community projects, the Cohort simulation helps managers and leaders learn to facilitate change, the 2018 Barry Richmond Scholarship Award winner is announced, new software and licensing features, the 38th annual Prouty, and isee systems heads to Iceland and Mexico…

Fall 2017 Issue

The Ulupono initiative investigates Hawaii food production with systems thinking, African leaders embrace a systems thinking approach to problem solving, a new online training course in creating learning environments, Stella Online has been added to the isee Exchange and exciting updates to Stella Architect...

Fall 2016 Issue

Stella Architect is used to better understand nuclear and other clean energies, high school students learn systems thinking from The Lorax, Systems in Focus looks at waste manangement, Story of the Month: Reissue examines school reform, isee systems heads to Brazil, Stella Architect is released, the company website gets an overdue update...

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