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Growing competition and a high demand for individual and highly sophisticated products in combination with shorter innovation cycles is leading to a rising number of ramp-ups especially in Small batch production. Daily challenges such as late changes and missing maturity of high Technology products and processes create significant risks. Since 2012 a group of 14 European companies and research institutes have developed novel planning and control solutions in the European public funded project ARUM (Adaptive Production Management; www.arum-project.eu) to overcome those challenges in production ramp-up. The validation of the developed control strategies and their implementation into novel planning and scheduling solutions within a realistic industrial environment is mandatory and several industrial use Cases have been selected, e.g. an Airbus system installation flowline in Hamburg.

Conaprole, the biggest dairy production company in Uruguay, produces more than 150 SKUs in their ice cream plant, using five production lines, and up to five different packaging configurations for each line. The company plans ice cream production on a 12-month rolling basis as part of the Sales & Operations Planning process, and the demand plan varies a lot due to seasonality. The factory management needs to prepare the production lines for the peak season during the low season, taking into account product shelf life and the warehouse’s freezing cameras’ capacity and costs. In addition, management found it very difficult to reschedule quickly their detailed plans due to the challenges they faced including bottlenecks, production process constraints, and staff turnover.

“This is how GE does ‘startups’ – putting our researchers, manufacturing talent and commercial teams to work to create technology that serves customer needs around the world,” Immelt (CEO) said. “GE Energy Storage was born in New York’s Capital Region from an idea that we turned into an advanced manufacturing plant and a global business that we expect will generate more than $1 billion in revenue annually in just a few years.” (www.ecomagination.com, 2012) In 2012, GE opened a new battery manufacturing plant in conjunction with the launch of an innovative energy storage business. The new Durathon battery products, which are half the size of conventional lead acid batteries, but last ten times longer, are the result of GE’s $100 million initial investment in battery technology developed at GE’s Global Research Center (geenergystorage.com, 2014). Expanding the facility doubled production, added 100 new jobs, and brought the total factory workforce to 450 when at full capacity (geenergystorage.com, 2014).

Admiralty Shipyards JSC, is one of the oldest and largest shipyards in the Baltic region, serving government and commercial customers world-wide for more than 300 years. The shipyard's military orders are primarily submarines, but also include non-military repair and the modernization and construction of other underwater technical innovations for oceanic development. Faced with a large order for diesel powered submarines, Admiralty Shipyards JSC (JSC) must evaluate whether the current production facilities can fulfill the order, and if not, what amount can be produced by the year 2016. JSC is also seeking confirmation that an additional production facility will not be needed to complete the order.

A manufacturer of plastic serial and original car styling accessories made for internal and external applications in passenger cars, identified a bottleneck in the foaming division of their production line. The large Austrian automotive supplier employed AnyLogic Simulation and Modeling software, which allowed examination of all possible resolutions without disturbing the current situation. The project began by modeling the existing system which includes various types of personnel and qualification scenarios, set-up optimizations, and lot-sizing strategies, then produces reports with key performance measures including inventory, tardiness and service level.

The manufacturing process is complex and can be impacted by many factors: supplies, equipment, factory overhead, management styles, etc. The more variables there are, the greater the possibility of disruption to the smooth operations of an industrial unit. The many factors that influence manufacturing costs and procedures can be analyzed with the use of AnyLogic Simulation and Modeling software. Decisions regarding manufacturing development, optimization, or reorganization can be costly while the potential benefits are often hard to justify prior to implementation. Simulation modeling is widely used in manufacturing for various problems from intermediate process optimization to strategic management. View this live demonstration of an Autoclave Aerated Concrete Factory where application of various storages and equipment pieces are showcased. Andrei Borshchev, CEO of The AnyLogic Company displays the internal components of the models development environment including the building process capabilities, available statistics and the option for 3D animation.