Discrete Event Simulation in Support of Optimized Automotive Assembly Line Producing Bullet Proof Vehicles Having Tailor Welded Blanks

In today’s ambiance of rapid modernization and technical advancements in nearly all industrial production processes of small to very large-scale industries around the globe, simulation offers a lucrative opportunity for engineers, planners, managers, and designers to try out ideas in advance of committing to a particular course of action to achieve optimized results. With careful advance planning with the help of simulation, a substantial reduction in initial investment, as well as low running costs, can be achieved during the establishment of various industrial process layouts. Case of a high valued industry manufacturing "Bullet Proof Vehicles" (BPVs) having Tailor Welded Blanks is selected to highlight the strength and benefit of simulation. Optimization that has been previously achieved through MATLAB (TOMLAB) programming is validated by simulation modeling using commercial discrete event simulation (DES) software i.e., SIMUL-8. SIMUL-8 consists of an interface which is highly user-friendly, and it can be utilized efficiently to analyze the effects of change in process layouts of various industries producing diverse commodities. For example, in the study under discussion, i.e., BPVs Assembly line, parameters like the pattern of flow of items/spares, interval between the arrival of assembly items, batch size, and other labor and machine resources can be altered easily during simulation runs to analyze their effects on the overall efficiency of an assembly line. Initially, simulation model was validated itself by entering data against real-time activities being undertaken on the assembly shop floor. Finally, simulation validated 62%, 70% and 58% reduction in assembly, idle, and cycle times respectively along substantial increase in the assembly line efficiency from 45% to 73%.