The Influence of Manufacturing System Characteristics on the Emergence of Logistics Synchronization: A Simulation Study

Abstract

The term “synchronization” in manufacturing refers to the provision of the right components to the subsequent production steps at the right moment in time. It is still unclear how manufacturing system characteristics impact synchronization. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of manufacturing systems’ characteristics on the emergence of logistics synchronization in them. We conduct a discrete-event simulation study to examine the effect of three system characteristics: (1) material flow network architecture, (2) work content variation, and (3) order arrival pattern. Our findings suggest that the material flow network architecture and the work content variation are related to logistics synchronization. Linear manufacturing systems with stable processing times such as flow shops operate at high logistics synchronization levels, while highly connected systems with high variability of processing times such as job shops exhibit lower synchronization levels.