For more than 20 years, a 650-carrier power-and-free conveyor system transported parts from assembly to shipping at American Axle & Manufacturing. Recently, the manufacturer of driveline and chassis systems for automobiles added a painting process to the mix. In addition, company decision makers determined that the current assembly rate only met 80 percent of the capacity for the new paint shop. That meant assembled parts from another facility would be trucked to the paint line in the future to ensure that the facility would run at maximum capacity. The challenge was to run at maximum capacity without running out of carriers and gridlocking the system.

That's where simulation came into the picture. A model was built to simulate the proposed system and processes over a two-week production cycle. An analysis demonstrated that the current production rate could be maintained if parts traveling from assembly to paint or paint to shipping did not exceed the rate of the load stations. A surge of parts traveling from either manufacturing to paint or paint to shipping would gridlock the system. The model also determined that the assembled parts being trucked in from the outside plant needed to be evenly distributed into production throughout the day.

Simulation proved integral to the determination that the materials handling system could be modified to incorporate a new function and maintain desired production rates. With simulation, companies can ensure performance of processes, practices and operations today and provide a solution that can meet the evolving manufacturing needs of tomorrow.