The method used is to apply KANBAN - “ a Lean method to manage and... The last factor and also the main factor -lack of hardware-components causes this factor is that workers do not prep
INTRODUCTION
Background of study
The pandemic is still complicated on a global and Vietnamese scale, affecting many economic sectors In this context, businesses need to have a continuous "turning" in strategic orientation as well as the method of implementing those strategies The COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumers globally - from their point of view of values, behavior, to the way they consume
According to the EY Future Consumer Index in May 2020, 89% of surveyed consumers are and will change the way they shop, 76% are and will change the way they choose products and services (SPDV), and half (50%) will probably only spend on some essential products Therefore, these changes are sure to have far-reaching effects on the operations of businesses
In order to adapt to the current context, businesses need a change in the production process to survive One of the challenges for most businesses is inventory management as well as eliminating waste in production Usually, conducting inventory tracking and management at businesses to maintain the right amount of goods is often considered a simple task However, for businesses that ship large quantities of products, inventory management is not so simple In addition to monitoring and checking the quantity of products, they also have to make a plan to use the product from time to time, predict the excess/shortage quantity, predict the demand for goods when performing marketing activities as well as supply provide information necessary for financial reporting Therefore, the need to strictly control inventory in these enterprises is very clear The use of methods and methods to manage inventory effectively as well as save costs is also a challenge
In this research paper, we focus on realizing the company's current goal of reducing the pre-production detail inventory of the factory for the 2020-2021 season compared to the2021-2022 season The method used is to apply KANBAN - “ a Lean method to manage and improve work across human systems” for the management and allocation of materials for the welding robot and the grinding stage.
Problem statement
ScanCom has offices in several prominent marketplaces throughout the world, including Denmark, England, and Germany, the United States, and many manufacturing plants in populated locations like Indonesia and Brazil, thanks to its strong location and personnel Vietnam is one of them, with ScanCom establishing a factory and office in the same site to conduct business The factory's production is always high-efficiency and on-time with partner orders Scancom maintains continuous communication by implementing ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2000 in all departments to reduce nonconformance.It was discovered that they always evaluate each other periodically and ensured not be over 10% different in performance Aside from the positive aspects, the production system still needs to be improved in many areas in order to reduce costs and waste, so it is not included in the final order.
Scancom is facing defective goods in the production process, defective goods causing waste and huge costs for businesses Faulty products appearing frequently and without strict control are one of the major causes of waste for Scancom Based on Pie chart and statistics table of robot stop rate according to error cause group As well as sorting and analyzing in order from high to low with the weights of Frequency and Ability to improve, the company has determined that the cause of the above waste is the robot stop rate There are many small operations such as shrinking outside the norm, damage to the robot due to lack of predictive maintenance, manipulation when adjusting welding points, collisions when moving, problems due to faulty goods for the next stage, and accidents The last factor and also the main factor - lack of hardware-components causes this factor is that workers do not prepare in time, use the wrong type, fail in production, and the warehouse does not provide enough.
The author recommends that Scancom use the Kanban management method in production after studying the production process and production statistics in order to control the process more quickly and easily while also minimizing costs The costs incurred, as well as worker errors, result in variations in the quantity of goods.
Objectives
For this research, we have 3 main objectives:
- Objective 1: Identify the waste that is outstanding at the company
- Objective 2: Identify the causes of waste in the company
- Objective 3: Provide solutions to reduce waste at the company - Apply the Kanban method to manage and allocate materials to:
❖ Increase robot uptime by reducing hardware shortages.
❖ Parts inventory reduced from 1,700,000 to 1,400,000 pcs.
❖ Eliminate rework costs due to incorrect use of Hardware, Components.
Scope and Limitations
The production line comprises the final stage of finishing the product shape using an automated robotic system's automatic welding Furthermore, the manufacturing process and the company have suffered losses due to ineffective raw material management, robot stoppage for objective and subjective causes, and other production issues Applying Kanban to processes will be a more appropriate route for the organization and will help to solve the challenges mentioned above
Because the forecasting and planning model produced in this study will be used to a specific production system at a specific car company, actual concerns must be included in the model However, there are certain limits to the capstone design:
- On the subject of people: the project's success in implementing Kanban in production will have a significant impact on human resources The average employee leave rate is 8% per month, and the number of new employees with less than one year of experience is 80%, both of which are significant difficulties that have a direct impact on the project As a result, while using the aforementioned technique to change it to meet the scenario and requirements at the time, it is vital to rely on the actual situation.
- Objectively: the COVID epidemic condition at the Tien Giang factory remains unsatisfactory, with employees unable to return to work or get training In addition, the project's progress was halted, and it was unable to be used in practice to tackle unresolved implementation concerns.
Furthermore, this project operates by neglecting the impact of input product quality issues, natural disasters, and indirect resources such as human behavior and resource physical status If the primary goal is to address the aforementioned concerns, this project will be ineffective; however, if the aforementioned issues are addressed, this project will be successful.
Project plan
DESIGN CONCEPTS CONSIDERATION
Overview
1.1 Company“Doing Business the Right Way – the ScanCom way”
ScanCom Group companies and production facilities are all certified with high environmental, quality and social accountability standards ScanCom is committed to the appropriate practice of social accountability and compliance for the benefit of our employees,customers and other stakeholders ScanCom strongly encourages its business partners and suppliers to implement the Code of Conduct guidelines and achieve sustainable improvements in social compliance, environment and quality assurance ScanCom is a member of the UN Global Compact and supports all guidelines and principles.
In the first quarter of 2021, Factory output increased by 8% compared to the same period in the 20-21 season Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in Vietnam, the factory has stopped working until now Through the production process, requirements are always set to meet production requirements and reduce pre-production detail inventory by 17.6% compared to season 20-21 But in fact, the robot downtime is high (production requirement is to complete 95% of the monthly plan), the cost of damage caused by using the wrong parts, the wrong hardware and the actual inventory of parts before production season. 20-21 is: 1,700,000 pcs This seriously affects the production line and the work of related departments The goal is to reduce part inventory from 1,700,000 to 1,400,000 pcs, increase robot uptime by reducing hardware shortages and eliminate rework costs due to misuse of Hardware, Components This saves the company $852.7 in losses per month and saves
$54,819 in total project value (estimated).
Literature Review
Lean means manufacturing without waste Waste (“muda” in Japanese) has seven types: waste from overproduction, waste of waiting time, transportation waste, inventory waste, processing waste, waste of and waste from product defects Despite the wide knowledge and available resources, many companies are struggling to stay “lean” The goals of lean manufacturing are to reduce waste in human effort and inventory, reaching the market on time, and managing manufacturing stocks that are highly responsive to customer demand while producing quality products in the most efficient and economical manner The concept of Lean Thinking (LT) originated from ToyotaProduction System (TPS) that determined the value of any process by distinguishing value-added activities or steps from non-value-added activities or steps; and eliminating waste so that every step adds value to the process Lean manufacturing focuses on efficiency, aiming to produce products and services at the lowest cost and as fast as possible For lean manufacturing, Kanban serves as a tool to control the levels of buffer inventories in the production; in simpler terms to regulate production quantities When a buffer reaches its preset maximum level, the upstream machine is directed to stop producing that part type Hence, in the manufacturing environment, Kanban are signals used to replenish the inventory of items used repetitively within a facility.
Kanban system is one of the tools under the lean manufacturing system that can achieve minimum inventory at any one time The Kanban system provides many advantages in managing operations and business in the organization Using the Kanban system is a strategic operational decision to be used in the production lines It helps to improve the company’s productivity and at the same time minimize waste in production The Kanban system requires production only when the demand of products is available Manufacturing companies especially in Japan have implemented the Kanban system successfully as this system originates from this country However, it was found that not all companies in Malaysia, particularly, among the small and medium enterprises (SME) in the manufacturing sector, are deploying the Kanban system Even though there are small medium enterprises (SMEs) using the Kanban system, they are facing problems in making the system effective. Thus, understanding the Kanban system is crucial in lean manufacturing.
Kanban (kahn-bahn) is a Japanese word; when translated it literally means “visible record” or “visible part” Generally, it refers to a signal of some kind; thus in manufacturing, it refers to Kanban cards The Kanban system is based on a customer of a part pulling the part from the supplier of that part The customer of the part can be an actual consumer of a finished product (external) or the production personnel at the succeeding station in a manufacturing facility (internal) Likewise, the supplier could be the person at the preceding station in a manufacturing facility The premise of Kanban is that material will not be produced or moved until a customer sends the signal to do so Nowadays in order to achieve manufacturing excellence, most organizations developed various techniques and methods to make their production operations productive and effective Most Japanese companies implement the Kanban system because it saves costs by eliminating over production,developing flexible work stations, reducing waste and scrap, minimizing the waiting times and logistics costs; thus reducing the inventory stock levels and overhead costs.
Based on the literature, there were key determinants in setting up the Kanban system.
In order to ensure the implementation of Kanban system a success, certain factors should be considered such as inventory management, vendor and supplier participation, quality improvements and quality control and employee and top management commitment.
Inventory : According to Heizer and Render, 2005, the company never achieves a low- cost strategy without good inventory management These authors quoted inventory are classified into four categories They are raw material inventory, work in progress inventory, finished goods and maintenance, repair, operating inventory Since inventories are important in organization, managing these inventories becomes complicated since it involves storage and holding costs and space in the manufacturing plant Inventory management is a complex problem area owing to the diversification of real life situations.
Supplier Participation : The Kanban system requires supplier commitment in providing fast services to provide effective supply of raw materials Basically the Kanban system only requires a minimum level of inventories in the production line where the inventories number should be equal with the production numbers Therefore supplier commitment plays an important role in order to ensure production lines operate smoothly and efficiently There are five important criteria when choosing suppliers: quality, willingness to work together, technical competence, geography, and price The aim of just in time (hereafter termed as JIT) is to eliminate stocks rather than move them to another point in the supply chain And, again, the way to achieve this is through cooperation The Japanese Kanban process of production is sometimes incorrectly described as a simple just-in-time management technique, a concept which attempts to maintain minimum inventory The Japanese Kanban process involves more than fine tuning production and supplier scheduling systems, where inventories are minimized by supplying these when needed in production and work in progress is closely monitored.
Quality Improvement and Quality Control : The Kanban system not only assists companies in saving their cost by having fewer inventories but it also controls and maintains quality improvements of the output Just in Time (JIT) is one of the elements constituted in the total quality management (hereafter termed as TQM) system For an effective JIT, all delivered parts and products must achieve a certain level of quality standards before those parts and products are accepted for the next operations or reaching the customer's incoming end (input) This is due to the four main reasons includes improved processes can make products with guaranteed high quality, high quality gives producers a competitive advantage,consumers have become used to high quality products, and will not accept anything less and high quality reduces costs such as prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failure costs (Bernstein, 1984) Traditional companies believe quality is costly, defects are caused by workers and the minimum level of quality that can satisfy the customer is enough. Organizations practicing the Kanban system believe that quality leads to lower costs, that systems cause most defects, and that quality can be improved within the kaizen framework.
Employee Participation and Top Management Commitment : Nowadays, commitment and good rapport between employees and management have become a part of culture in organizations to ensure their people in organizations are able to cooperate with each other to achieve their objectives The researcher has classified Japanese culture issues into two broad categories worker related and management related This distinction between workers and managers has helped Japanese management implement JIT successfully All employees should be concerned and fully participative with the success of the new system and the success of the organization for the future; thus they should be treated equally and fairly For the Japanese workers, they are totally committed to their work and the company.They are loyal, co-operative, flexible and willing to work long hours when needed.
Current System Investigation
ScanCom follows mass production in their manufacturing The process is demonstrated in the graphic below In this report, we will concentrate mostly on Shop Floor
01 and Shop Floor 02 (which is conducted in the same factory)
Figure 1 Flow of production process
Production Process: Raw materials which are monolithic aluminum bars are extruded into profile form All of these are stock in a warehouse named SG2-MM The three previous steps are monitored by PPM Then if there is any work order received, they plan the necessary number of aluminum bars in Kanban cards and send it to the warehouse Whenever the SF01 gets the material, the production process begins Four must-have stages are cutting,machining, heating and coating and packing, some products do not pass through the SF03.After each stage, the finished products are stored and prepared to be transferred to the following stage.
Design Concepts Consideration
Apply Kanban to manage and allocate materials for ROBOT WELDING AND GRINDING STAGE to reduce/eliminate:
• Robot downtime due to missing Hardware components.
• Using the wrong Hardware component by getting it wrong.
‘Just in time’ (JIT) approach is based on a lean manufacturing system which develops to optimize and improve manufacturing efficiency by reducing manufacturing lead time through waste elimination and kanban It was derived from the Toyota Production System as a principle to minimize inventory and improve throughput Takt time is used to regulate manufacturing pace on the floor As a result, smooth material flow and synchronized manufacturing process has been established to increase efficiency and productivity of the manufacturing system and expose all wastes to the entire area for improvement The Kanban system emphasizes the minimum level of inventory It ensures the supply of the right part, in the right quantity, in the right place and at the right time
Kanban system is a mechanism to manage and control flow of material in manufacturing Cardis used to regulate the pattern of material flow throughout the process It was driven from downstream needs and triggered upstream production Upstream production is then initiated to replenish those parts that have been withdrawn Most researchers had concluded that the Kanban system could lead to reduction of lead time and manufacturing excellence.There are two types of kanban system which are single card kanban system and two card kanban system
Single card kanban system uses only 1 type of kanban card to trigger upstream production when needed This card is called ProductionInstruction Kanban (PIK) While two card kanban systems are using two types of card which are Production Withdrawal Kanban (PWK) and Production Instruction Kanban (PIK) PWK card is used to withdraw needed goods from preceding process and PIK card is used to give instruction to preceding process to produce what is needed for inventory replenishment.In order to achieve lean goal, essentially kanban system is established on factory floor to align flow of material by removing all waste and source of waste Waste is anything that customers are not willing to pay for and it could be categorized into 7; transportation, over inventory, excess of motion, waiting, over process, overproduction and defect
The Kanban System that was implemented at the manufacturing area was equipped with relevant tools such as heijunka board, lot formation post,kanban chute and kanban post These tools are used to visualize abnormality and assist production associates to work according to time JIT approach enables companies to achieve high product quality with minimal resources.
METHODOLOGY
Approaches Comparison and Selection
- Detect and eliminate problems that would otherwise require costly and time-consuming remedial measures.
- Helping manufacturers optimize capital investment for facilities while ensuring desired
Is a complex software and requires a high level of proficiency to use effectively production throughput.
- Optimizing the performance and energy usage of existing production systems.
- Validate production system in 3D virtual environment before actual application. eKanban - Easily track every step along the way (even with a high number of kanban cards).
- No printing, no loss of kanban cards.
- Access to real-time information on current production status, as well as inventory.
- Transparency and effective communication – everyone has access to the same data.
- A more flexible response to customer needs.
- The ability to analyze not only real-time but also historical data and continuously improve the production process.
- Have to change the whole working system.
- Requires highly qualified staff and technicians when applied in practice.
- Ability to combine complex problems into one model.
- Provides a combination of environmental, social, and economic aspects, as well as interdependence with other
- Trying to model such complex systems can be a very difficult task to accomplish.
- Identifying each component or subsystem can be a very time- systems.
- Observe wholly the model system. consuming task.
- Some issues may arise such as data availability, systems understanding, and systems uncertainties.
- Ability to study the behavior of systems in order to evaluate design alternatives, improvements, or to justify costs.
-Various levels of detail and complexity can be modeled according to the grade of accuracy and detail needed for the decision-making process.
- Uncertainties and dynamic (time changing) behavior of the real system can be modeled.
- Phenomena can be sped up or slowed down in the simulation
An entire shift can be analyzed in minutes
- Can only be applied if the simulation model can replicate the reality to a sufficient extent.
- Stochastic skills and an adequate level of experience and knowledge are needed for the creation of a simulation model This time- consuming simulation approach is therefore limited to larger mining companies that have the financial capacities to invest in simulation.
- Like numerical mathematical models and traditional spreadsheet analysis, Discrete Event Simulation only provides estimations for the model outcomes.
- Provides a natural description of a system
- Low cost and time saving
- Considering the nature of social phenomena with too many (known & unknown) complex factors
- A lot of agent-based toolkits include performance limitations: with a large number of agents, execution speed drops considerably.
- Not designed for extensive simulations.
Through researching and inquiring, different approaches have been devised to compare performance including Tx Factory Simulation Software, eKanban, System Dynamics Modeling, Discrete Event Simulation and Agent-Based Models All approaches are used to manage production systems, processes, reduce costs and inventory.
After analyzing and evaluating, the method using Tx Factory Simulation Software is considered to be the most optimal and feasible for this case study This approach will be most suitable when applying Kanban for the company to achieve its goals.
System Design Description
❖ Study the system: The current picture of Scancom's robotic welding and grinding process is observed and analyzed in this section Difficult problems create the need for improvement.
❖ Identify problem: The goal of this segment is to identify and analyze the problem the company is facing The company Scancom is currently facing a lack of hardware and components that cause high robot downtime From there, the approaches are researched and applied to achieve the goals.
❖ Literature review: Synthesize Kanban literature related to the challenge characteristics of the problem It is important to review and select appropriate primary references for research.
❖ Develop model: Variables, objective functions and constraints are determined and established in terms of related notations Problems which have been defined in the previous steps are transformed into mathematical formulas and functions, and the existing conditions into the multi-objective programming model.
❖ Collect data: Data serving for Tx Plant Simulation and Kanban application.
❖ Run model and test: Using the simulation software approach Tx Plant Simulation creates a digitized work environment and applies Kanban to reduce robot downtime, improving productivity in many cases.
❖ Compare and analysis result: Compare new results with old results, use charts to analyze and evaluate effectiveness, select optimal results
❖ Conclusion and recommendation: Final conclusion for the project, the effect of change, improvement In the future, more proposals to support research in related topics are needed.
Expected Result
Index Unit Current Status Target
Robot downtime due to lack of materials (hour/month) hour 180 30
PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION
Data collection
PN4084C Italica carver easy chair, ALU GPH, WNT EBR 4/4, PAR FSC
PN5110D Ragusa carver easy chair, ALU BMB, WNT BLK 2/1
PN68811C Tagula stacking armchair, ALU GPHM, WNT GPH 2/2, PAR FSC MUB
1.1 Italica carver easy chair - PN4084C
Figure 3 Italica carver easy chair – PN4084C
1.2 Ragusa carver easy chair - PN5110D
Figure 4 Ragusa carver easy chair - PN5110D
Figure 5 Tagula stacking amchair - PN68811C
Table 2 Applying KanBan for robot welding and grinding for 3 models chairs
Application
APPLICATION OF KANBAN FOR MANAGEMENT AND SUPPLY OF MATERIALS FOR ROBOT WELDING AND GRINDING
Total number of seasons 21/22 welding areas.
Top 3 caver chairs Add customer data by month season 21/22.
Plan the week, plan the day for the top 3 cavern chairs.
2.1.2 Lead time to provide NVL.
Analysis of the current hardware composing process:
+ List the daily tasks of hardware and aluminum level employees.
Hardware supplier job analysis Executor Weight Department Time (hours) Receive picking list for 1 working day Helper
For all HW in 1 day Data 0.25
Get HW from Warehouse Helper PL Warehouse 3
Store HW in the warehouse of welding grinding Helper 0.5
Compose HW for each robot according to W/O Helper
Table 3 Current job breakdown of employees providing HW.
Hardware supplier job analysis Executor Weight Department Time (hours) Receive picking list for 1 working day Helper
For all HW in 1 day Data 0.25
Get HW from Warehouse Helper PL Warehouse 3
Store HW in the warehouse of welding grinding Helper 0.5
Compose HW for each robot according Helper About 120 10.5 to W/O pcs/time
Table 4 Kanban job breakdown of HW level employees.
Lead time composing HW for 22 robots is 14h
Personnel needed: two personnel to supply HW.
Analysis of the current aluminum composing process:
+ List the daily tasks of HW and aluminum suppliers.
Analysis of aluminum supply jobs Executor Weight Department Time (hours)
For all HW in 1 day KH 0.25
Check current quantity Helper WG 0.5
Table 5 Current job breakdown of aluminum suppliers.
Analysis of aluminum supply jobs Executor Weight Department Time (hours)
For all HW in 1 day KH 0.25
Check current quantity Helper WG 0.5
Compose aluminum according to the planned quantity Helper 22
Table 6 Current job breakdown of aluminum suppliers.
Lead time for aluminum supply is 26.75 hours.
2.2.1 BOM analysis of the caver chair:
+ Provide information on substructures, details needed to manufacture a chair.
+ Here is interested in the output product of grinding welding (white frame).
Figure 6 General BOM structure for caver chair series.
2.2.2 Layout of the current aluminum supply area - robot welding area
2.2.3 Plan to arrange NPL on pallets.
There are two options: Use pallet 1.6x1.2x1.2
+ Contains all details on the same pallet
+ Divide the pallet into four small boxes according to the picture below.
Need actual stacking image, measure the volume of an actual set.
+ Contains details according to welded product clusters: arm frame, back frame, hip frame.
Need actual stacking image, measure the volume of an actual set.
+ Calculate the capacity of the pallet for each option.
Figure 7 Calculation table for the stacking options
+The two options are evaluated according to the criteria in the table below using the Weighted sum model (WSM) method.
+ The options are rated from 1-5 points by the project team,
+ The weighted part receives the assessment from the Education Department - the project sponsor, the expert.
Rating Matrix Weight Option 1 Point Option 2 Point
Table 7 Evaluation table for selection of stacking options
Total number of pallets needed / Quantity to be ordered, redesign-> money for 1 option
2.3 Calculate the number of kanban cards, choose the optimal option.
2.3.1 Calculating the number of Kanban cards:
Calculating the number of Kanban cards based on the plan, Lead time, and capacity calculated above.
Here are divided into 3 options:
+ Option 1: workers shift administrative shifts, synchronously prepare for 3 working shifts. + Option 2: administrative shift workers, 4-hour overtime prepare synchronously for 3 working shifts.
+ Option 3: The 8-hour shift workers synchronously prepare for each shift.
Model name Option 1 Option 2 Option 3
Total area of m2 (plus 30% for moving path) 157.248 78.624 78.624
Table 8 Kanban card number calculation table.
+ The options are evaluated according to the criteria in the table below using the Weighted sum model (WSM) method.
+ The options are rated from 1-5 points by the project team,
+ The weighted part receives the assessment from the Education Department - the project sponsor, the expert.
Matrix Weight Option 1 Point Option 2 Point Option 3 Point
Total score Total score Total score
Table 9 Evaluation table of kanban number selection
- Select the area based on the frequency of travel, the distance, draw spaghetti for the moving process.
Signal cards will be hung at the area.
The NPL editor will check the signal board and follow the NPL composing process below.
W/O Quantity/ Votes Day Amount of Total Model DED Drawing board kanban DESCRIPTION votes of W/O code
No Name Details Quantity Shelf No Name Details Quantity Shelf
Table 10 Synchronous NPL preparation form.
RECOMMENDATION
Introduce about Tecnomatix plant simulation
Tecnomatix is Siemens' portfolio of manufacturing solutions including software related to many different fields such as Management, Production Planning, Manufacturing Manufacturing and Production Simulation, Tecnomatix Plant Simulation provides a wealth of information, analytical tools that allow the assessment of situations in the production process to help engineers make quick and reliable decisions at the early stages of the plan, with little to rely on experience Plant Simulation's "SIMTALK" programming language gives users a high degree of flexibility in modeling and simulation, something that other software like Process Simulate has not yet developed With Plant Simulation software, engineers can transfer models from 2D to 3D and vice versa at any time.
The main function of Plant Simulation:
Plant Simulation software enables the creation of representative models of the production environment including resources and logistics at all levels of the process. Simulation models can be rapidly created using components from specific production- specific application object libraries.
➢ Simulation and analysis of system performanceThe Plant Simulation model is used to run simulations of the virtual production system From there, Plant Simulation allows you to analyze the impact of production variations with statistical analysis, graphs, and charts to relieve bottlenecks, optimize throughput, resources, improve performance, and optimize prioritizing energy use.
In addition to Plant Simulation's highly efficient 2D model view, models can be rendered in a 3D virtual environment using included libraries or human computer aided design (CAD) data specific use Plant Simulation supports the JT data format for 3D modeling, an International Standards Organization (ISO) standard, and Siemens PLM Software's direct modeling technology, allowing for efficient loading and realistic visualization of objects Large 3D simulation model.
Figure 11 Process sequence for virtual plant simulation and optimization with Tecnomatix
➢ Solve bottlenecks and streamline processes
With Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation you can create hierarchical, line-structured, process-like models of actual production facilities For example, consider product mix, batch size, changeover and failure times, but also consider operator qualifications and hours worked With this starting point, you can streamline your production processes, increase productivity by overcoming bottlenecks, and minimizing buffers You measure the performance of your processes through graphical results from OEE, Sankey, and Gantt charts. This way, you make choices based on thorough analyses, based on real data.
➢ Optimize your energy consumption for better performance
Plant Simulation helps to optimize energy consumption in production processes The built-in energy analyzer displays current, maximum and total power consumption, showing the power consumed during simulation This is how you identify measures that can save energy You then test these measures with Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation, for minimal energy consumption without compromising supply security.
➢ Test production system before actual deployment
With Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation, you can link the simulation to a controller, such as a PLC or MES With this, you test and optimize process control without the need for physical hardware These data interfaces are flexible and open, so they can be used in conjunction with almost any data source This greatly speeds up the startup of new processes.
➢ Optimization with 2D and 3D statistical simulation
Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation software provides a complete set of tools for analyzing, modeling and optimizing manufacturing processes You use object-oriented 3D building blocks and statistical analysis tools to quickly and efficiently build models, setting them up with the right parameters Built-in genetic algorithms and testing tools help you identify critical process parameters This way you get maximum performance with minimal cost.
Figure 12 Optimize energy usage with energy analyzer
Benefits of Tecnomatix Plant Simulation:
- Increase productivity and solve bottlenecks
- Reduced implementation time and cost of new processes
- Minimize operating costs and energy consumption
- Reduce investment risk through early proof of concept
Tecnomatix plant simulation application
The case study was based on input data from a selected company whose main activity is the manufacture of medical devices The company manufactures several second products that are used every day not only in the healthcare sector but also in the patient's home environment The input material is tubing, foil, inlet valve, and boxes with appropriate instructions for the product The output product is finished urinal collection bags.
Creating a simulation model in Tx Plant Simulation
The proposed model was elaborated based on layout and data from a real functioning production line (process times, machines, containers, workers, output products, etc.) TheAssembly icon was used to model the machines and packaging Assembly station is designed for joining individual parts or adding components to the assembled part It allows the simulation of assembly processes Simulation of the production line in 2D – the initial state is processed in Figure 13 Input information on the manufacturing process is in Table 11.
Table 11 Input information of manufacturing prcess
Figure 13 Simulation of the production line in 2D – initial state
Simulation model of E-Kanban in Tx Plant Simulation
The system uses software applications to create orders The ideal type of Kanban system is E-Kanban, whose task is to track a certain amount of material that has been consumed or pulled by an electronic signal The signal is sent directly to internal or external subcontractors For these suppliers, the order is automatically processed, where the same item is replaced in the required quantity to be delivered within the agreed time Electronic Kanban differs from classic Kanban in that it replaces Kanban cards with barcodes It uses technology to improve the movement of material within production The simulation is created using individual frames since the software supports a hierarchical modeling approach After clicking on the selected frame, the individual machines are displayed The illustration is shown in Figure 14 When creating a simulation, it is necessary to create a basic frame (master), in which the individual frames (machines and manual workstation) are subsequently stored.
Figure 14 Simulation model of the E-Kanban system with the illustration of selected frames
Figure 15 Use of operators during the working shift
The simulation aimed to effectively increase the productivity of the finished products without changing the process times The desired result was achieved using the E-Kanban system in the second simulation Traditional demand forecasting and scheduling tools are unable to flexibly synchronize supply and demand.
The case study below was prepared as the request of the company to increase the efficiency of logistics processes in the production in question This is a complex logistical problem due to the nature of the products that are manufactured in the company It was necessary to process the analysis of the material flow and at the expense of the outputs from the analysis to process the optimization proposal in conjunction with the fulfillment of the goal Lean tools (Gemba, Value stream mapping, see Fig 3, 3Mu, Bottleneck analysis, Continuous flow, Kanban) were used in the process of analysis and subsequent design in combination with TX Plant Simulation software support This combination made it possible to create a dynamic simulation model that can be tested at different inputs, respectively tracking enterprise-defined goals and is a step towards creating a Visual Factory and DigitalFactory.
Figure 16 VSM model in TX Plant Simulation in the researched company
Creation and testing e-Kanban simulation model using TX Plant Simulation
Figure 17 Scheme of the current state
Table 12 Input data for current state model creation
Figure 18 Production and logistics flow – current state simulation 3D model
The proposed simulation model aims to improve and streamline the production and logistics process, which is to facilitate the work and thus simplify the movement of material, of course, to set aside excess downtime, which does not add any added value to the product.
The main indicators for monitoring efficiency are material flow and performance of operations.
CONCLUSION
In this study, Kanban methodology was performed to prepare an optimal standard procedure for welding and grinding robots on the production line of the Scancom company. Alternative approaches to optimize internal setups were investigated in detail In order to eliminate adjustment steps, trial and error was suggested to apply Tx plant simulation software.
After Kanban implementations, robot downtime due to lack of raw materials has been reduced from 180 hours to 30 hours without affecting output quantity Along with that, the amount of inventory has also decreased from 1,700,000 to 1,400,000 and the cost of cargo loss has also decreased significantly This study is a good example of successful Kanban implementations in a great factory After seeing the results of the Kanban implementation, managers should generalize such practices in other parts of the factory They can make big gains by making very small adjustments and changes By applying modern production philosophies such as lean manufacturing, they can increase the competitiveness of their businesses, use their scarce resources more effectively, and create additional resources to grow their factories
For further studies, all the concepts of lean manufacturing such as Kanban, SMED, 5S can be combined with the Industry 4.0 methodology In this way, more effective and efficient processes can be designed for manufacturing and service companies.