Evaluation of the role of waste in a truck manufacturing line using simulation

In their never-ending search to improve manufacturing performance, companies try to eliminate all sources of waste. In this paper, we describe how the effects of the elimination of waste on performance measures such as lead time and overtime costs can be estimated using logistical simulation. This is illustrated using a real-life case study that was conducted in the repair department of a truck cabin factory. In this department, cabs are controlled and if necessary repaired. The first part of the paper describes how bottlenecks were determined for both the present layout and for a proposed layout change. This turned out to be difficult, as several product flows intertwine. Modelling was made complex by these interactions, as they caused deadlock phenomena. The second part of the paper represents a sensitivity analysis, which evaluates the effects of different types of waste, such as machine breakdowns, inadequate buffer size and production time variance.