Using simulation to model the Logistic operations of a company of the cement industry

This paper presents a discrete-event simulation model to study the logistics operations involved in a plant of the cement industry, aligned with a real project developed in partnership between Cachapuz (a company that provides international weighing solutions) and the University of Minho. The purpose of this work consists in using simulation to model several activities, involving weighing, loading and unloading of raw materials, regardless of the type of industry, e.g. cement, tomato, cereals. Thus, this paper documents the work conducted to apply the developed simulation model in a case study of the cement industry. After validating the model, a set of simulation experiments were conducted, which allowed to estimate the maximum capacity of the plant and the impact in the performance of the plant, of the arrival of a cargo vessel. In this regard, it was found that in the case study in question, it is not possible to unload all the cargo from the vessel in a working day – around 3 working days would be required. Further conclusions and future work are discussed in the last section.