Track: Modeling and Simulation

Abstract

We present a tool to support beer production planning for Kunstmann company, located in the Ríos Region, Chile, considering production, fermentation, filtering, packaging, and inventory of its main product Torobayo beer, using system dynamics methodology. This simulation tool facilitates the understanding of the production process and contributes to improving company's decision making. For this, a description of the production system was made, which served as base for the construction of the proposed simulation model, through Vensim software. The production system, storage for fermentation and conditioning in UTs (Unit-Tanks), filtering and temporary storage in DTs (Drunk-Tanks), packing and the increase in the final product inventory were studied. The proposed model includes 3 level variables (UT, DT and Inventory) and 5 connected flows, taking into account the delays in the fermentation and maturation of beer, and the capacities of filtering, packaging and inventory. The process eventually stops when a desired inventory is reached. The structure described corresponds to the generic structure of a specific UT. By taking advantage of modeling with subscripts of Vensim, together with a disposition in a spreadsheet of few parameters, this structure was simplified to generate up to 12 UTs in parallel. This tool allows those who carry out the planning work to test different scenarios and, particularly, to detect bottlenecks present in the DTs, in an agile, faster, and graphic way. With this tool, the manager or the production planner could evaluate theoretical production scenarios changing the main parameters that define the entire process. It could also be used as a training tool for those who start working in the world of beer production.