Answers to your questions...
In order to help you make decisions, process simulation brings answers to any type of question.
Here are some of them.
Automated manufacturing
Process
- Should I plan a step where parts are grouped together to optimize the steps that will follow?
- Should I have several production lines in order to separately manufacture parts with different characteristics?
Layout
- Which layout limits travel distances?
- What distance do parts travel? What is the impact on throughput time?
Machines
- Should the machines handle only one step or several ones?
- I have the choice between several solutions/machines, which one suits my needs best?
Breakdowns
- Is having a redundancy on certain machines necessary in order to decrease breakdowns’ influence?
- How much productivity is lost in case of a breakdown depending on when it occurs?
Storage
- Which storage capacity should I plan while taking optimistic production quantity, defect rates, and potential breakdowns into account?
- Which storage solution is the most suitable: manual, stacker crane, carousel, etc.?
Transport & conveying
- Which conveying solutions to choose?
- How many shuttles/vehicles to use to distribute parts without saturating the system?
- What is the distance traveled by shuttles/vehicles? How much time is lost because of the network’s saturation?
Calendar
- What is the most suitable maintenance workforce’s calendar?
- Is a constant human presence needed?
Quality defects
- How much does quality defects weigh on production capacity and throughput time?
- How to size the production line while taking defect rates and their variability into account?
Logistics
Service rate
- Taking demand forecasts and statistical variability into account, what is the service rate that I will be able to provide to my clients?
Picking
- Are there advantages in grouping picking orders? On which criteria should I group them?
Inventory
- When and at which frequency should inventory be checked?
- What is the impact of stock-taking on the operation of the usual tasks of the warehouse?
Storage
- Which storage solutions should I use?
- How much stock coverage per product to plan in order to fill a variable demand?
- How to store the parts while anticipating and optimizing their future picking?
Transport & conveying
- What is the optimal number of shuttles/vehicles to keep up with the storage/picking orders?
- Is the conveying system that I am planning to use suitable?
- What distance do the shuttles/vehicles travel? On which frequency should then their maintenance be done?
Distribution
- Which expedition logic to adopt?
- Is it better to group the shipments or should they be sent as soon as possible?
Manufacturing
Process
- What is the impact of adding or removing a step from my process? Will the workers be under/over-loaded? How will the throughput time be affected?
- Should I split the production in several lines, each focusing on different products/processes?
Planning & scheduling
- How to ensure a sufficient availability of parts during production?
- How to take into account the variability of the quantities to produce and of the workforce’s availability?
- Should we execute the production orders as soon as possible or groups them by product types and execute them by batches?
Machines
- What is the optimal number of machines needed?
- How does throughput time change if I add or remove an equipment?
Breakdowns
- What is the influence of breakdowns on productivity?
- Are there machines that I should duplicate in order to avoid too much slowdown if they fail?
Quality defects
- What is the weight of defect rates on throughput time?
- What would be the throughput gains if I managed to decrease defect rates?
Calendar
- What working calendar allows to reach our productivity goals?
- How to optimize transitions between shifts to avoid unavailability of machines/workplaces?
Human resources
- How many resources do I need?
- What skill levels and versatility for my workers are needed to reach my production goals?
Absences
- What is the influence of workers’ absences on productivity?
- What happens if key workers are absent at the same time? How to duplicate and distribute their skills?