Advanced Manufacturing Control Systems: A Simulation Comparative Analysis

NUMBER: 003-0027 1 SIXTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF POMS, CHICAGO, IL, APRIL 29 MAY 2, 2005 ADVANCED MANUFACTURING CONTROL SYSTEMS: A SIMULATION COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Massimo BERTOLINI Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43100 Parma (Italy) Phone:+39 0521 905861 Fax: +39 0521 905705 email: massimo.bertolini@unipr.it Maurizio BEVILACQUA Dipartimento di Ingegneria delle Costruzioni Meccaniche, Nucleari, Aeronautiche e di Metallurgia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, sede di Forlì, Via Fontanelle, 40 47100 Forlì (Italy) – Phone: +39 071 2204874 – Fax: +39 071 2804239 – e-mail: m.bevilacqua@univpm.it Andrea GRASSI Dipartimento di Scienze e Metodi dell’Ingegneria, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Fogliani 1 42100 Reggio Emilia (Italy) Phone: +39 0522 522624 Fax: +39 0522 522609 email: grassi.andrea@unimore.it Abstract This paper presents a comparative analysis of advanced manufacturing control systems using simulation. In particular, three PULL production philosophies have been analysed: a Just In Time (JIT), a CONstant Work In Process (CONWIP) and a hybrid system environments. These different production control philosophies have been applied to flow shop systems with four, six and eight machines, evaluating the manufacturing system performance (i.e. Service Rate, WIP, finished Goods, Time in System, Maximum Queue Size). The performances have been analysed both in an ideal case (machines efficiency equal to 100%) and in a real case (machines efficiency lower than 100%), so as to consider machine breakdowns. To overcome the limit of low performance in presence of a machine failure, two further solutions have been proposed, taking into account the introduction of kanban-break cards together with a re-allocation of workers during a machine downtime towards the upstream work centres.