Title :
The use of simulation in facility layout design: a practical consulting experience
Author :
Eneyo, Emmanuel S. ; Pannirselvam, Gertrude P.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. & Ind. Eng., Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville, IL, USA
Abstract :
The paper presents a practical undertaking to solve an industry-specific problem of facility expansion through relocation of an existing production facility to a proposed new facility. In order to remain competitive, a mid size company located in the Midwest region of the United States required a thorough analysis of its manufacturing operations in an attempt to improve the overall productivity of its manufacturing process. A comprehensive simulation study was undertaken to determine the inherent constraints and the bottleneck operations in the manufacturing process. The relevant performance measures from the simulation outputs along with such factors as space requirements for each equipment and the expected production goal of the new facility were analyzed to present facility design alternatives for the proposed new facility. The outcome of the simulation study was well received by management and the recommendations have been implemented
Keywords :
computer aided facilities layout; digital simulation; manufacturing data processing; Midwest region; United States; bottleneck operations; expected production goal; facility design alternatives; facility expansion; facility layout design; inherent constraints; manufacturing operations; manufacturing process; mid size company; overall productivity; performance measures; practical consulting experience; production facility relocation; simulation; simulation outputs; simulation study; space requirements; Analytical models; Assembly; Computer simulation; Industrial engineering; Job production systems; Manufacturing industries; Manufacturing processes; Performance analysis; Production facilities; Productivity;
Conference_Titel :
Simulation Conference Proceedings, 1998. Winter
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-5133-9
DOI :
10.1109/WSC.1998.746025
