Simulation Modelling

The development of large computer simulations, for partners in manufacturing and logistics.

WATMIMS developed a simulation model of a highly-automated factory for a partner, in the automotive industry. Flow in the paint shop was prone to bottlenecks. The shop had four major control points (two conveyor crossovers and two significant conveyor intersections), where decisions for routing jobs had a key impact on paint-shop performance. The model was employed to study overall throughput and time in the system, for various control rules, as functions of product mix and the rates of automotive processing and re-work.

From that computer simulation model, several control rules were refined and tested. These rules needed to go beyond the "obvious" (e.g. at an intersection A-B, give absolute priority to jobs waiting at point A; or strictly alternate between jobs at A and those waiting at point B). Rather, WATMIMS proposed and tested a number of control rules that reflected dynamic, actual system status: How many jobs are currently on several particular conveyors?

The best rule turned out to involve multiple if-then comparisons pertaining to details of the paint shop at five conveyor strips and four "Mods" (specific painting spots). The simulation model concerned the entire paint shop. Its recommendations led to a statistically-significant reduction of several per cent in the time in the system of single-coloured jobs.