A Methodology to Support Manufacturing System Design Using Digital Models and Simulations: An Automotive Supplier Case Study

摘要

Emerging tools for digital manufacturing support the decision making during the design of production systems. Simulations have proved to enhance the plant design process by generating accurate predictions allowing the evaluation of different alternatives. However, the use of these tools needs to be guided to achieve an efficient decision-making process. Therefore, this paper proposes a methodology to guide the engineering efforts towards plant design and operation using discrete event simulation tools. The methodology integrates all essential activities to develop, optimize, and validate the plant. The presented methodology aims at specifying the approach taken to generate the technology viewpoint from the Sensing, Smart and Sustainable Enterprise Reference Model (S3E-RM) which allows the integrated manufacturing enterprise design. A case study is presented to demonstrate the results obtained when using the methodology. The case study is a plant from a Tier One Automotive Supplier that produces plastic and metal parts. The advantages and limitations of the proposed methodology are visualized in the case study implementation and then discussed in the conclusions.