A plan for a new loading area at a plant called for three bays where goods would be transferred from silos to trucks and rail cars. The simulation combined continuous and discrete processes. The production area involves continuous manufacturing processes, and loading into rail cars and trucks is a discrete process. This was the first time the company studied the interaction and balance between production and things like truck schedules and loading durations. The simulation showed that two bays would handle the work load.
Models confirm good ideas.
Someone at one of the company's cereal plants suggested a new orientation for cereal boxes on the conveyor lines to help reduce changeover times. Originally, as the boxes traveled along the lines, they were positioned perpendicular to the conveyor, so that the belt width had to match the height of the box. When production changed from a big box to a smaller one, the conveyor had to be shut down to change the belt to match. The new idea was to orient the boxes in the same direction as the conveyor belt, so that one belt width would serve all sizes. Although it was obvious that this arrangement would reduce changeover time, it would also reduce the number of boxes that could be on a conveyor at any given time and decrease surge.