Modeling And Simulation Of An Idler Production Line Logistics System

The Shanghai Branch of China Coal Research Institute is a belt conveyor design andmanufacturing institute servicing for the coal industry, which has a semi-automatic idlerproduction line. With the increase of orders, the current idler production line can’t satisfythe demand of market. It needs to increase productivity by technical innovation. It canincrease productivity through purchasing new equipment and increasing labor, but thecapacity of the current idler production line has not yet fully released, the operationefficiency of logistics system of the entire production line is not high, the actual operationof some equipment is low, the blockage of the production line is serious, and the bottleneckequipment impacts the throughout greatly.In this paper, we use the computer simulation software ProModel to model andsimulate the existing system. Through the research and analysis of simulation results, weuse three typical production conditions of the productivity rule (Little’s law) and theproduction line balance theory to evaluate the operating condition of the current productionline logistics system and find out the bottleneck process as well as the causes of blocking.And on the basis, considering the layout of production facilities, the balance of theproduction line, WIP inventory, the buffer stock setting between the workstations and otherfactors, we get the idler production line logistic system improvement program. Afterre-using the computer simulation software ProModel to model and simulate the newsystem, we get the performance and effectiveness. Then we re-evaluate the pros and consof the new production line logistics system, and to seek the best solution for thetransformation of the idler production line.In this paper, the modeling and simulation of the idler production line logistics systemprovide a detailed reference for decision making of the technological transformationprogram, and has obvious practical value.