Supportive role of the simulation in the process of ship engine crankcase production process of reengineering (case study)

The following paper presents the results of a case study conducted in a company producing engines for ships. The scope of the research enhances the elaboration of the method of reengineering the production process with the support of simulation. Authors present the background of the research including the comparative analysis of five different reengineering methodologies. On analysis, the conclusion is defined that there is a gap in reengineering methodologies since they do not account for industry-based requirements for simulation. To fulfill this gap the Petri nets application for simulation was proposed. Authors discuss the most distinctive elements of a Petri net and define the methodology of manufacturing processes modeling. The obtained output was not sufficient to make a final decision about the real reengineering process. Therefore, an additional analysis with Rapid RE (Rapid Reengineering) methodology was performed. The proposal of the potential hybrid solution combining the advantages of both methods, i.e. Petri Net and Rapid Re, is presented.