Simulation-based scheduling in automotive industry

In order to meet the demands from customers regarding due dates, delivery times, accuracy etc. there is a need for a precise planning tool. The current planning tool developed and used at Volvo Car Corporation (VCC) in Skvde, Sweden, is complex and consists of several components. Therefore VCC wanted to examine the usefulness in integrating simulation as a tool in the continuous production planning and evaluate if a simulation model can generate a dispatch list alike the one generated by the systems that are in use today. A simulation model was built based on observations of the schedulers work today, the actual assembly lines and the two systems that the schedulers at VCC uses today, "Assembly Planning System" (MOPS), and "Central Sequencing System" (TUR). It was found that a simulation-based scheduling model could be used for creating dispatch lists or for training of new schedulers. But in order to make the simulation-based scheduling approach successful, all conditions and restriction that the real system has need to be included in the simulation model to get a optimal dispatch list.