Manufacturing Cell Design Using ProModel simulation software
Company: GEC
The company in this case study, part of the GEC group of companies, proposed to reorganise the layout of a manufacturing facility at an estimated cost of £250,000. The aim was to improve efficiency and cope with anticipated increases in sales for two major product types.
The primary objective for the ProModel simulation model was to prove that the reorganisation would deliver the anticipated benefits.
For validation and benchmark purposes, the first task was to build a model of the current manufacturing system prior to simulating the proposed changes. This proved to be an extremely valuable exercise in its own right. ProModel helped us to communicate the ways in which both the current layout and the new layout were intended to work. It became clear that different members of the design team had different ideas although they were using the same words to describe the process. ProModel also promoted a greater understanding of how effective the current batch control rules were.
The simulation demonstrated that no significant improvement would result from the reorganisation of the layout alone. Additional improvements to the manufacturing system were required to realise the benefits of a cellular layout. ProModel clearly helped us to avoid a costly mistake.
ProModel's visualisation and ease of modification enabled the cell team to make and incorporate new improvements into the cell over and above the envisaged layout changes. A key component was the adoption of a Kanban system for production control.
The changes proved able to cope with the forecast sales increase and gave rise to significant improvements in product throughput. A 30% reduction in lead time was the most significant business advantage for the company.
