SIMULATION MODELING OF AUTOMATIC PRODUCTION LINES WITH INTERMEDIATE BUFFERS | ||||
| JES. Journal of Engineering Sciences | ||||
| Article 10, Volume 41, No 6, November and December 2013, Page 2175-2189 PDF (607.8 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Research Paper | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jesaun.2013.114959 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
M. Heshmat  1; Mahmoud A. El-Sharief2; M. G. El-Sebaie2
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| 1Mechanical Engineering Department – Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, 71516 Assiut | ||||
| 2Mechanical Engineering Department – Faculty of Engineering Assiut University, 71516 Assiut | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| A production line is an important class of manufacturing system when large quantities of identical or similar products are to be produced. The performance of a production line is highly influenced by machine failures. When a machine fails, it is then be unavailable during a certain amount of time required to repair it. Analysis of production lines divides into three types: analytical, approximation and simulation models. The analytical and approximation models have assumptions, which make these models unrealistic such as reliable workstations, certain processing distribution, the first workstation cannot be starved and the last workstation cannot be blocked. The main problems in production lines treatment are the calculation of throughput and average levels of buffers because of the great size of state space. An analytical model is reviewed to clarify the limitations to use such treatment in real production lines. Simulation modeling of production lines is considered very important for designers interested in: Workload Allocation Problem (WAP), Server Allocation Problem (SAP), and Buffer Allocation Problem (BAP). This paper studies and analyzes the performance keys, which effect on production lines. A simulation model is developed by using ARENA software and used to analyze and test several bottlenecks that are causing severe congestions in different areas on the production line and could resolve all of these bottlenecks. In this paper, an actual cement production line is used as a case study. After a simulation time of 13 days, a simulation results show the line bottlenecks, workstations utilization, buffer capacities and the line production rate. The outputs clarify redesign of allocation of buffers, which verify an optimum size could be made; it might be taken into consideration when designers implement such lines. Finally modified better workstations utilization, buffer capacities and the line production rate with an increase about 15% of the production rate and economizing of 37 % from buffer capacities | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Production lines; Buffer allocation; Simulation; Modeling; Case study | ||||
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