1. LEGO Car Manufacturing Booth Activity for Upper Primary and High School

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3. Activity Description and Materials Needed
Guidelines
Target Audience: High School & Primary School Students
Recommended Venues: STEM Fair, Career Fair, or other booth/table settings for individuals
# Volunteers: 2-3
Duration: minutes/student
Activity Flow: Students visit 3 stations to learn about STEM and Supply Chain
Innovate and Design Engineer: Build a unique LEGO car
Test Engineer: Does your car meet the product requirement?
Supply Chain Manager: Draw a chance card and assess company health
Materials Needed
Random LEGO’s or similar building blocks that can create a car that rolls
3 Large Plastic Bowls
1 roll Masking Tape
Chance cards (backup)

4. Innovate & Design Engineer Your Car Assessment (volunteer)
Activity Flow #1
Innovate & Design Engineer Your Car
(table) #2
Test Drive
(floor) #3
Supply Chain: Health
Assessment (volunteer)
Start
Disassemble and Reuse
***NOTE FROM DESIGNER: THE ”WHAT IS SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT?” TITLE HAS AN INVISIBLE RECTANGE OVER IT THAT IS HYPERLINKED TO THE VIDEO
Video URL:

5. Station 1: Innovate & Design Engineer (table)
Student
Student
Student
Design Rules
Build a car that can roll 3 feet
Must use at least 12 pieces
Bowl
Bowl
Bowl
Table
Student
Student
Student
The STEM focus on this activity is math intensive, and show the relevance of math in the cell phone industry
Setup: Table
3 bowls filled with random Lego parts that can make multiple variations of a rolling car
Station Flow:
Students innovate and design engineer a unique car that meets the design rules

6. Station 2: Test Engineer (floor)
Setup: Test Track
Find a smooth area of floor near the LEGO table, but one that doesn’t block access to the table
Using Masking tape, create a start line and a finish line, approximately 1 metre apart (parallel lines of tape)
Station Flow
Students “test drive” their car. Passing cars will successfully roll 1 metre (or more) to reach the finish line. Note: this is harder than it looks
If a car does not pass, the student can try up to 2 more times
If a car still does not pass, the student has 2 options
Redesign the car and test again, or
Move directly to the next station
Product Requirement
Car must be able to roll at least 1 metre in the forward direction
Three test attempts are allowed. You only need the car to reach the finish line once to pass product requirements
Games

7. Station 3: Supply Chain Chance
Setup: Supply Chain Chance
Volunteer stands near end of test track, and with supply chain chance cards in hands
Volunteer will discuss supply chain impact with each student, based on the chance card drawn.
Station Flow
Students pick one “supply chain chance” card at random
Students assess their supply chain impact – is this good or bad?
If bad – how would a supply chain manager fix this problem, or even better, prevent it in the future?
Student disassembles car into pieces and places back in bowl ?
Games

8. BACKUP

9. Supply Chain Chance Cards
Games

10. Your tire supplier was just hit by a massive hurricane
Your tire supplier was just hit by a massive hurricane. The entire factory was completely destroyed
Your airbag supplier just notified you of a serious airbag safety issue. These defective airbags have already been placed in 20,000 cars that have been sold to customers.
The glass company that makes your windshields found new raw materials suppliers that are lower cost and of the same quality. Your purchase price of windshields decrease by 10%
The glass company that makes your windshields found a more efficient production process, taking 20% less time to manufacture.
Games

11. (cycle time: total time it takes to make 1 car from start to finish)
Your car company assembly line workers have gone on strike. No manufacturing is taking place.
Your manufacturing engineers have created a new process that decreases cycle time by 20%
(cycle time: total time it takes to make 1 car from start to finish)
Your car assembly line is in full scale production, when they realize they have no more tires in inventory. All production has stopped.
You just purchased additional factory equipment, allowing you to produce twice as many cars each day.
Games

12. The price of gasoline has dropped $1 per litre.
You’ve shipped 10,000 cars to China and they have been held up in customs for more than 3 weeks
You’ve found a new ocean freight supplier that can move your cars across the ocean 20% faster than your current freight supplier.
You’ve shipped 500 cars by rail, but an earthquake just hit, destroying 5 miles of track you still need to cross.
The price of gasoline has dropped $1 per litre.
Games

13. A recent TV news cast featured your company – showing how cars you built 15 years ago are piling up in garbage dumps
A recent TV news cast featured your company – showing how cars you built 15 years ago are piling up in garbage dumps
A TV new cast recently featured your car company for your efforts in reducing carbon emissions.
A TV new cast recently featured your car company for your efforts in reducing carbon emissions.
Games

14. Example: what to include in your materials kit
To Make 1 Automobile:
1 Underbody
5 Axles
5 Tires
1 Seat
1 Steering Wheel
1 Antennae
1 Floor Panel
1 Windshield
1 car base frame
8 Truck Beds
Games