"Hands-on" GPSS Training Company

19748 Alsea Hwy

Alsea, Oregon 97324

Office: (541) 487-4017 e-mail: gpsstraining@proaxis.com

 

Gerald Airth established the AHands-on@ GPSS Training Company in 1985 to meet the training needs of customers purchasing Minuteman's GPSS/PCTM Version 1. Mr. Airth has continuously updated the course content to keep pace with all versions distributed by Minuteman Software (Version 2, OS/2 version GPSS WorldTM, and now the Windows 95/98 version). After fifteen years, Mr. Airth is an experienced veteran in the GPSS simulation training business. In addition to training, Mr. Airth performs post-training consulting services, involving developing model(s) and training company personnel on the model(s) logic for in-house maintenance and use.

 

Mr. Airth holds a Masters degree in Statistics from Stanford University. He was an Instructor in the Industrial Engineering Department at Oregon State University (1979-86), where he taught courses in Engineering Statistics, Production Planning and Control, Operations Research and Engineering Economics. He taught GPSS-V for two years as an Associate Professor, at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. Prior to teaching, he had ten years of experience developing GPSS models for Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA) where he developed/implemented GPSS simulation modeling techniques to allow long-range inventory planning for the Production Planning Department. He spent five summers at the Navy's Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (Trident Submarine Base at Bangor, WA) where he developed GPSS simulation models to evaluate dock utilization for the submarine refit base. During 1990-93, Mr. Airth developed GPSS/PCTM simulation models of the Federal Waste Management System under a DOE contract. This was a large-scale modeling effort that simulated the movement of all Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) from utilities' nuclear reactors through a Monitorable Retrieval Storage facility (temporary storage) and on to the long-term repository for permanent placement.

 

The AHand-on@ GPSS Training Company offers two forms of assistance:

 

    1. Custom Scheduled or On-site Training Courses. These are five day, seven hour/day, hands-on training in the art of GPSS modeling. The course takes beginners with little knowledge about simulation or GPSS to programable capability. The course uses a client=s case study as the teaching element, which is left with the attendees.

      2. The "Custom Scheduled" courses are offered at the Oregon Center for anyone who needs immediate training or who prefers one-on-one training. These courses are individually arranged, based on instructor's availability. The course fee is $1,500 for the first attendee, and an extra $1,000 for additional attendees from your company. Call (541) 487-4017 for scheduling.

      The AOn-site@ courses offers Cost Savings by eliminating your employee=s airfare, car rental, meals, lodging expenses, plus the cost of travel time away from your office, results in a break-even group size of approximately 2! In both types of courses, there is the opportunity to coordinate with the instructor beforehand, to adjust some of the classroom practice problems to your company's needs. All courses are customized to the attendees' level of programming expertise. Tailoring the course instruction to a particular company's problems has improved the attendees' motivation. The Aon-site@ course fee is $3,000 plus expenses, for a class size of up to four attendees (add $400/attendee above four). For an on-site training proposal, please call (541) 487-4017.

       
    2. Follow-up Consulting Assistance. As president of AHands-on@ GPSS Training, I have no other commitments (I=m available full-time). Because of my background of over twenty years, I have the experience to trouble-shoot most of the GPSS WorldTM for Windows programming glitches your company is experiencing, or develop the framework for new models, both of which reduces the model development cycle. At $80/hr plus travel expenses, post-training consulting generally is the fastest and most cost-effective means to incorporate GPSS WorldTM modeling into your company's use. Call (541) 487-4017 or e-mail at gpsstraining@proaxis.com.

 

WHAT IS COVERED IN THE COURSE?

The basic five-day (seven hours/day) hands-on training program covers all the fundamentals of the GPSS WorldTM language (call or email for a course outline). Each attendee is assigned a computer on which to produce programs. The class size is limited (two for custom scheduled courses at the Oregon Center), allowing each attendee an adequate share of one-on-one individualized training. Each day's session is a mix of lecture and hands-on practice model development. During lecture time, new block commands, modeling techniques, and the meaning of various output statistics are presented and discussed. The hands-on practice time enables each attendee to work with newly covered block commands in the development of classroom models.

 

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND A TRAINING COURSE?

Money: It is cost-effective to attend this five-day training course, rather than struggle through the time-consuming self-learning method. GPSS WorldTM is not a menu-driven program designed for beginners. It is said that attending the five-day course cuts four-five weeks off the self-learning cycle, plus provides a methodological structure for model development that would be hard to acquire through a self-learning program.

 

PAST CLIENTS

Some of the firms which have purchased this training course include:

IBM  NCR Marathon/Ashland Petroleum 
Dupont Rockwell International SCO Foundry
US-West Bank of America Martin Marietta
Fred Meyer Southern California Gas US Census Bureau
Pima County, Tucson Sundstrand Allen Automated Systems
Jet Propulsion Lab SOROS Associates Methodist Hospital So. Calif
J.C. Penney TransLogic Airforce HQ AFOTEC/HRT
Procter & Gamble Co Chevron U.S.A. Oak Ridge National Labs