Simulation to Evaluate Several Critical Factors Effecting Manufacturing
Bernard Schroer, Gregory Harris and Dietmar Moeller
Summer Computer Simulation Conference 2007 (SCSC 2007)
San Diego, California (USA), July 15-18, 2007
Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of several critical factors on the production at a manufacturing plant. These factors include: 1) line balancing, 2) takt time, 3) process variability, 4) work-in-process, or Kanban size, between stations, and 5) location of fulfillment/containment centers. Several discrete event simulation models were written to evaluate the impact each factor on production. Included in the paper are a brief description of the simulation models, impact on production of each factor, conclusions and lessons learned.
This project was funded in part by U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, Grant No. DTOS59-05-G-0021 and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education #P116J040009 and the European Commission DG XII Education and Culture under the EC reference number 04D032408EUJ12987