Throughput analysis of automatic production lines based on simulation methods

Abstract

The effectiveness of manufacturing systems is a very important ratio that decides about the competitiveness of enterprises. There are a lot of factors which affect the efficiency of production processes such as: operation times, setup times, lot sizes, buffer capacities, etc. In this paper, a computer simulation method is used to model the throughput and provide a product life span analysis of a number of automatic production lines. The research was done for two topologies of manufacturing systems and different capacities of intermediate buffers. Due to the fact that an increase of intermediate buffers results in an increase of work in process, a flow index of production is proposed that includes a relationship between the throughput of a system and the average life span of products. The simulation model and experimental research was made using Tecnomatix Plant Simulation software.