Modeling and Simulation of a Manufacturing System Using ARENA

The aim of this project is to develop a manufacturing system based on a practical
situation implemented on the ARENA software. Notably, the project topic is
applicable to most manufacturing companies, as it involves typical flows and
conditions. It manipulates the movement of entities from one station to another, route
to several processes with any specific condition, and finally being disposed. The main
purpose of this project is to improve the process with weaknesses and lack efficiency
by continuous process improvement and process reengineering. This project focused
on the line balancing method which is usually done manually with high level of error,
and also to observe the impact of machine procurement before being installed in an
actual system. Data and observation of the real process was done on a selected
production line of a manufacturing company producing color television. For each
production line's main line, it has four main process areas: the assembly, adjustment,
inspection and packing and each process has several more work positions under it.
Four models are generated for output observation based on improvements applied.
Model 1 represent the actual system, Model 2 represent the system with line
balancing method, Model 3 represent the system with new machine procurement and
model 4 represent the combination of Model 2 and 3. The models depend on inputs
from historical data and fitted to specific distribution function via Input Analyzer
tool. However another option for changes in input parameters is available through the
VBA generated user form. The outputs can be viewed at the Microsoft® Excel,
animation on ARENA itself and also Process Analyzer tool. The result shows the
overall efficiency is improved by 22.26 %, throughput is increased up to 16.6 %,
machine downtime is decreased by 59.9 % and WIP is decreased by 50.49 %. It can
be concluded that a viable simulation model of the process is realized and the results
obtained provide useful insights about the actual system and suggests ways of
improving it.