Colloquia

Summary

Simulation is regarded as one of the advancements in the industry 4.0 movement, and can be a very versatile and powerful tool to assist in production planning and control (PPC) processes if implemented correctly. A simulation model can assist in these processes by providing insight in, and means to experiment with the production facility. This research project is conducted at WILA B.V., a manufacturer of press-brake tooling and tool holders located in Lochem, the Netherlands. Currently there is a need for better tools that give more insight in and help the decision making in the PPC processes of WILA. More dynamic tools are necessary that should provide more insight in the production process of press brake tooling, for example the influence of different product groups or interruptions in the manufacturing process. The goal of the project is to investigate how and where a simulation model could be used in these PPC processes to gain more insight in the factory and help improve the decision making.

Using Siemens Plant Simulation a simulation model was developed of a part of the manufacturing facility of WILA. The simulation model provides more insight in key performance indicators such as product lead time, throughput, and worker utilization. Using this simulation model three experiments were performed to demonstrate possible use cases of such a simulation model within WILA. In order to reduce the complexity and considering the time frame of the project some major simplifications and assumptions are present in the simulation model that made it difficult to make a good estimate of the model's accuracy and reliability. 

The simulation model in its current state would not be sufficiently developed enough to function as a complete and reliable tool to be used in the PPC processes. Possible future use cases, of a more complete and developed model, are possibilities to test multiple production scenarios within the workload calculation. More in-depth analysis on factory performance and functioning could be done, order release planning strategies could be investigated further to optimize the manufacturing resource planning. A simulation model could assist in decision making when reacting on production disruptions within the capacity planning. It is recommended to increase the level of detail of the simulation model and to include more product families. More validation on the model is needed to increase the confidence in the functioning and outcomes of the simulation model. Finally, it is recommended to set clearer goals for the simulation model to support further development of the simulation model.