The use of simulation in facility layout design: a practical consulting experience

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