Analyzing Production Line Schedules with Tecnomatix Plant Simulation
摘要
Manufacturing environments involve complex scheduling decisions with a high volume of data and daily order urgency. Every production stage holds its own defined schedule in optimizing single production objective or balancing a list of targeted objectives under specific constraints. Oftentimes, production planners find it challenging to effectively analyze and compare a sheer number of potential schedules with different criteria that a manufacturing operation could employ. While Gantt charts provide a basic timeline of production schedule, they are limited in their ability to interpret the intricacies of production performance. For better visualization and deeper insights of production operation on the shop floor, simulation approach emerges as a viable tool to get a full picture of the system behavior under various scenarios. This paper presents two simulations performed using Tecnomatix Plant Simulation. The first simulation analyzes a schedule optimized for a single objective, specifically minimizing makespan, while the second simulation examines a schedule optimized for two objectives namely, makespan and production line conversion frequency. By conducting these simulations, the impact of various schedules can be further obtained with interactive visuals and analytics. Manufacturers can make production strategies effectively in view of the statistical capabilities of the simulation software, thereby enhancing overall productivity and operational efficiency.