Abstract

This paper focuses on improving the flow efficiency of a production line using simulation software. The aim of this study is to simulate the actual flow using advanced simulation software and improvement in productivity was done by increasing the utilization of the underutilized facilities. Simulation modeling was used to evaluate the equipment and manpower performance for the manufacturing system. Each individual facility in the flow has to be analyzed carefully and allocated to stations in a balanced way over the available workstations. The paper is divided into 3 parts, the first part consists of data collection and distribution selection in which selection of best data distribution was carried out, the second part is about simulation modeling, analysis of the simulated model in which underutilized facilities were identified, and cause of the underutilization was identified, in the third part, the results of the model were analyzed, validated and finally, best modifications for the flow were suggested to improve the efficiency of the flow. And finally, Cost-benefit Analysis was performed to determine the tenure of recovering the total investment. Based on the simulation results, the top under-utilized facility was M5, M6, M7, M9, and M3, and the existing production was struggling to meet the customer demand due to machine shortages. So, to overcome this underutilization problem, we suggested some modifications by generating different scenarios in the flowline described in the proposed improvement section.

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N Rajhans