Melhoria do processo de picagem da empresa SNA Europe através da simulação

Atualmente a sociedade encontra-se imersa na era digital, onde geralmente se confunde o virtual com o real. O desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias contribuem para um aumento, considerável, da qualidade de vida da população e promovem a sua longevidade. Com a finalidade de aumentar os lucros e a sustentabilidade das empresas, indústria acompanhou este desenvolvimento, procurando automatizar toda a plataforma fabril. Para tal é necessário recorrer a plataformas de simulação, na medida em que se torna insustentável e demasiado dispendioso parar uma linha fabril completa, para realizar testes de melhoria dos parâmetros de funcionamento da mesma. O presente trabalho foi realizado em contexto industrial na empresa SNA Europe empresa do grupo Americano Snap-on (USA), consistindo no desenvolvimento de modelos de simulação, com o intuito de testar várias configurações do processo de picagem de limas, com o intuito de avaliar a possibilidade de alterar a sua configuração, designadamente através da introdução de processos automatizados, em detrimento do processo manual atual. Foi desenvolvida uma aplicação informática denominada por GAMS CPL (geração automática de modelos de simulação de células de picagem de limas), visando a geração automática de modelos de simulação com diferentes estratégias de controlo, que contribui para o apoio à tomada de decisões por parte do utilizador, relacionadas com a melhoria do processo de picagem de limas. Este processo é constituído por várias células correspondentes aos diferentes comprimentos das limas e ao tipo de picagem, a qual pode ser simples ou dupla. As células de produção são compostas por diferentes máquinas e são concebidas para produzir uma família de produtos de forma flexível, podendo ser operadas por um número variável de operadores. O operador realiza a movimentação da lima ao longo da célula, colocando-a de forma manual na máquina, posteriormente esta executa o procedimento de forma automática. Pretende-se que o recurso à simulação em ambiente ARENA permita, ao utilizador identificar novas configurações do processo, redução do tempo de operação por parte do operador, bem como o aumento da taxa de ocupação dos equipamentos e das quantidades de unidades produzidas. A ferramenta de apoio à decisão desenvolvida permite validar o impacto de estratégias alternativas de controlo na produção, contribuindo para um maior conhecimento do sistema de produção em análise. O aspeto inovador desta ferramenta reside no seu carácter genérico, no elevado índice de flexibilidade, do ponto de vista do processo físico e das estratégias de controlo, e na simplicidade de parametrização.Today society is immersed in the digital age, where the virtual is usually confused with the real. The development of new technologies contribute to a considerable increase in the quality of life of the population and promote their longevity. In order to increase the profits and the sustainability of the companies, the industry followed this development trying to automate the entire manufacturing platform. To do so, it is necessary to use simulation platforms, as it becomes unsustainable and too costly to stop a complete factory line to perform tests to improve the operating parameters of the same. The present work was carried out in an industrial context at SNA Europe, a company of the American group Snap-on (USA), consisting in the development of simulation models, in order to test various configurations of the mechanical conformation process of files, in order to evaluate the possibility of changing its configuration, namely through the introduction of automated processes, in detriment of the current manual process. A computer application was developed called GAMS CPL (automatic generation of imulation models in mechanic conformation cells of files), aiming at the automatic generation of simulation models with different control strategies that contributes to the support to the decision making by the user, related to the improvement of the mechanical conformation process of files. This process consists of several cells corresponding to the different lengths of files and the type of mechanic conformation, which can be single or double. The production cells are composed by different machines and are designed to produce a family of products in a flexibly way and can be operated by a variable number of operators. The operator moves the file along the cell, placing it manually in the machine, and then it executes the procedure automatically. It is intended that the use of simulation in the ARENA environment allows the user to identify new process configurations, reduce the operator's operating time, as well as increase the occupation rate of the equipment and the quantities of units produced. The decision support tool developed validates the impact of alternative control strategies related with the production, contributing to a better knowledge of the production system under analysis. The innovative aspect of this tool lies in its generic nature, high flexibility index, from the point of view of the physical process and control strategies, and in the simplicity of parameterization

Production Scheduling

Generally speaking, scheduling is the procedure of mapping a set of tasks or jobs (studied objects) to a set of target resources efficiently. More specifically, as a part of a larger planning and scheduling process, production scheduling is essential for the proper functioning of a manufacturing enterprise. This book presents ten chapters divided into five sections. Section 1 discusses rescheduling strategies, policies, and methods for production scheduling. Section 2 presents two chapters about flow shop scheduling. Section 3 describes heuristic and metaheuristic methods for treating the scheduling problem in an efficient manner. In addition, two test cases are presented in Section 4. The first uses simulation, while the second shows a real implementation of a production scheduling system. Finally, Section 5 presents some modeling strategies for building production scheduling systems. This book will be of interest to those working in the decision-making branches of production, in various operational research areas, as well as computational methods design. People from a diverse background ranging from academia and research to those working in industry, can take advantage of this volume

Discrete Event Simulations

Considered by many authors as a technique for modelling stochastic, dynamic and discretely evolving systems, this technique has gained widespread acceptance among the practitioners who want to represent and improve complex systems. Since DES is a technique applied in incredibly different areas, this book reflects many different points of view about DES, thus, all authors describe how it is understood and applied within their context of work, providing an extensive understanding of what DES is. It can be said that the name of the book itself reflects the plurality that these points of view represent. The book embraces a number of topics covering theory, methods and applications to a wide range of sectors and problem areas that have been categorised into five groups. As well as the previously explained variety of points of view concerning DES, there is one additional thing to remark about this book: its richness when talking about actual data or actual data based analysis. When most academic areas are lacking application cases, roughly the half part of the chapters included in this book deal with actual problems or at least are based on actual data. Thus, the editor firmly believes that this book will be interesting for both beginners and practitioners in the area of DES