Application of Lean Analyses and Computer Simulation in Complex Product Manufacturing Process

The paper presents an application of lean analyses and computer simulations (CSs) in a case study of a manufacturing line that is used to manufacture complex products. The complexity of the manufacturing process (MP) is increased by realizing the MPs of components in parallel. Moreover, there is a necessity of cooperation with external service providers, to which the components/products are sent four times on different stages of the MP. In the first analyses, such factors as machine/workstation availability, takt time, and the number of employees are considered. While, in CS the following factors were used: machine availability, batch size, and way of cooperation with external service providers. Several recommendations which can be useful in the development of simulation models for complex product manufacturing system are also presented. The model was developed in Flexim. Then, simulations were performed based on a simulation plan. The simulation results were analyzed and discussed. Finally, conclusions were presented.