Benefits of Manufacturing Simulation
Digital potential goes a lot beyond our personal use. Businesses and factories can take so many benefits from digital tools.
Manufacturing simulation is one.
One major benefit from digitalization and high computer process capacity is that we can replicate reality in a virtual world and see what happens when we change some parameters. This seems very futuristic, but it's already done in factories. We call it factory simulation.
Here, all factory conditions are replicated and introduced made to digital where we have the flexibility to analyze, change and see the results - risk free. You can foresee the huge benefits it can introduce in companies, from big factories to ones that are still on paper. From manufacturing costs reduction and efficiency to set up times cuts and stocks minimization, the list of benefits is huge and is available to all companies in the digital age.
The factory simulation can be applied to a lot of situations, like:
- Evaluation of a product change in manufacturing process;
- Evaluation of equipment and staff necessities;
- Evaluate the effect of a new equipment;
- Remove bottlenecks from manufacturing process;
- Introduce stock policies;
- Improve product delivery dates;
- Improve machines reliability and optimize team size.
For new factories, in addition to the outputs shown above, simulation can also be used to define the quantity and types of machines to use, achieve the optimal factory floor layout and set-up the ideal stock size for all the parts and consumables.
At this stage, you could be thinking in the amount of variables envovled in a manufacturing process and the difficulty to put all inside a digital environment.
Yes, it’s true and that’s why it’s necessary to conduct a previous approach with all the people involved and do a sensibility analysis to obtain the points in the production process that care for more detailing. The detail of the information introduced can be from the tall, weight and fitness of the workers to the time it takes the crane to elevate a specified piece.
The digital world brings a lot of benefits to industrial companies. Factory simulation is one of them, empowers companies for an efficient and risk control factory.