Visual interactive simulation of a semi-automatic packaging system for capacity evaluation and process improvement

This project is based on the use of computer simulation to analyze a semi-automatic packaging system consisting of three different packaging lines. The system under study is the packaging process of a pharmaceutical company that packs drugs for animal consumption.;Some differences exist among top management and middle management in terms of which are the real capacities of the packaging lines. For this reason, animated simulation models were built to study the process performance of each packaging line. Then, by using the simulation models and with a real knowledge of which were the packaging lines capacities, the manager of the packaging group wanted to perform experiments to evaluate the impact of some future projects on the packaging lines capacity.;The software used to build the simulation models was ARENA 3.0. To build the simulation models a continuous verification process was executed to avoid the accumulation of errors in the model logic. For this project purpose, one of the three simulation models was statistically validated to evaluate if it is capable to estimate in a confidence way the real system performance. The performance measure used to validate the simulation model was the cycle time of the packaging line. Reliable real values of the performance measure were provided by the company and statistically compared with the simulation model output.;Once the model was validated, experimental design was used to evaluate the impact on the capacity of the packaging line of some changes that the company was considering to implement. Finally, based on the results of the experimentation, a regression analysis was performed to provide the packaging management a regression equation that included the significant factors resulting from the experimentation. This regression equation could be used by the company as a tool for performing fast and precise estimates of the system performance.