Efficiency analysis and optimisation of a multi-product assembly line using simulation

One of the most important aspects of designing multi-product assembly lines is the balance. Poor balance causes an increase in production cycle time as well as idle time, which lead to higher costs and lower efficiency and accordingly lower productivity of the organisation. In this article, the studied assembly line is simulated using Arena software to investigate the system functionality and its weaknesses. In order to overcome these weaknesses and improve the ongoing situation the management was forced to come up with suggested solutions, considering the limitations, which were analysed by process analyses (PAN) software to find the best choice. Going further, in order to find the optimal solution due to the goal function, which was the average cycle time of products assembly, the OptQuest tool was employed which uses heuristic methods for intelligent searching.

multi-product assembly line; optimisation for simulation; arena; OptQuest.