Automated simulation model building for a complex furniture manufacturing process

In this paper we present the first part of a project of flexible manufacturing process optimisation in a Slovenian furniture company. In this part we analysed the current state of the manufacturing system by constructing a discrete event simulation model that reflects the manufacturing processes. As the manufacturing process involves about 30,000 subprocesses it is not feasible to manually construct the model to include every subprocess, hence a method for automated model construction was developed. The method analyses open orders and constructs a corresponding model which includes only the machines and subprocesses required for the manufacture of ordered products. The obtained simulation model lets us inspect current manufacturing processes and allows us to easily apply modifications of the model parameters in manufacturing process optimisation.