Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of simulation laboratory on continuing education engineering students’ academic performance. Design/methodology/approach The investigation consists of establishing the student learning levels then mapping the student learning levels (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation) through program outcomes with appropriate evaluation components. 270 continuing education students enrolled during six years were selected to be observed as part of this study. These students were divided into two subgroups, one with 135 students who were offered simulation lab (G2) and the other 135 students were not offered simulation lab (G1) in this investigation. Subsequently, a comparative analysis was carried out on these two groups to assess the student performance in multiple evaluation components with respect to student learning level and program outcome achievement. Findings It was identified that student performance in the application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation learning levels has improved for the group with simulation lab, and no change or minimal change was observed for the group without simulation lab. It was revealed that the simulation lab practice problems needs to be aligned with the theoretical concepts in the course to get a better performance from the students. Originality/value The study was conducted in one of the leading institutes with 270 students’ performance observed over a period of six years. It is the comprehensive work done on a complete program with data collated over a period of six years in multiple courses and multiple assessments.

The objective of the article is to establish the significance of a simulation laboratory especially simulation exercises for continuing education students in lean manufacturing course. Subsequently, identify the influence and analysis of these simulation exercises in exploring, understanding and implementing lean strategies in various contexts. The research is carried out through the following steps: enhancing the course handout and course outcomes, identifying the various lean concepts and proposing relevant exercises, mapping the course outcomes with the proposed exercises, identifying the appropriate simulation tool and developing the proposed exercises, deciding the mode of simulation laboratory offering, offering the selected critical exercises in simulation laboratory, conducting a critical review of simulation exercises with a team of experts and performing a comparative study on the student performance. The study has identified that there was a significant improvement in the performance of the students after participating in the simulation laboratory, especially in achieving the course outcomes. This was established by the analysis of the various examination scores, feedback on simulation exercises and instructors. This attempt is the first of its kind to analyse the student performance after incorporating simulation laboratory in a lean manufacturing course. The focus is on evaluating student performance based on the scores in the examinations. A population of 488 students enrolled in a masters’ degree programme is considered in the analysis 234 (without simulation lab) and 254 (with simulation lab).