Preface
Based on the competition of international production networks, the pressure to
increase the efficiency of production systems has increased significantly. In addition,
the number of technical components in many products and as a consequence also the
requirements for corresponding assembly processes and logistics processes increases.
International logistics networks require corresponding logistics concepts.
These requirements can be managed only by using appropriate Digital Factory
tools in the context of a product lifecycle management environment, which allows
reusing data, supports an effective cooperation between different departments, and
provides up-to-date and relevant data to every user who needs it.
Simulating the complete material flow including all relevant production, storage,
and transport activities is recognized as a key component of the Digital Factory in
the industry and as of today widely used and accepted. Cutting inventory and
throughput time by 20–60% and enhancing the productivity of existing production
facilities by 15–20% can be achieved in real-life projects.
The purpose of running simulations varies from strategic to tactical up to
operational goals. From a strategic point of view, users answer questions like which
factory in which country suits best to produce the next generation product taking
into account factors like consequences for logistics, worker efficiency, downtimes,
flexibility, storage costs, etc., looking at production strategies for the next years. In
this context, users also evaluate the flexibility of the production system, e.g., for
significant changes of production numbers –– a topic which becomes more and
more important. On a tactical level, simulation is executed for a time frame of 1–3
months in average to analyze required resources, optimize the sequence of orders,
and lot sizes. For simulation on an operational level, data are imported about the
current status of production equipment and the status of work in progress to execute
a forward simulation till the end of the current shift. In this case, the purpose is to
check if the target output for the shift will be reached and to evaluate emergency
strategies in case of disruptions or capacities being not available unexpectedly.
In any case, users run simulation to take a decision about a new production system
or evaluate an existing production system. Usually, the value of those systems is a
significant factor for the company, so the users have to be sure that they take the right
decision based on accurate numbers. There are several random processes in real
production systems like technical availabilities, arrival times of assembly parts,
process times of human activities, etc., so stochastic processes play an important role
for throughput simulation. Therefore, Plant Simulation provides a whole range of
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