On the integration of industrial data and analysis with simulation in a company of the cork sector

Abstract

Nowadays, companies are constantly seeking to develop tools to increase productivity, production flexibility and the quality of their products, or to reduce costs, delays and their exposure to risks. In fact, such improvements can be achieved in the scope of product as well as of process improvement. In industrial contexts, often, such improvements can be achieved by implementing tools to access the intended information in due time, such as Decision Support Tools. Aligned with the aforementioned, this project was developed in the context of a cork industry, dedicated to the agglomeration of cork and other materials, such as rubber, foams and recycled plastics, and the transformation of these same agglomerates into products, such as joints, footwear, floors, consumer goods, acoustic coatings and sports surfaces. More specifically, tools for the automated access to information were developed, namely, a reference search tool that meets the specified requirements of managers from the company, as well as a tool to search the available dimensions or production steps for a given product. Moreover, and infield of process improvement, a set of simulation models were also developed using SIMIO. First, there was a survey and parameterization of the critical factors of the line, so that the simulation could be elaborated, and afterwards the balancing of the system was studied, considering different scenarios. Depending on the type of roll to be produced and according to the type of packaging, the balancing of the system varies. Other scenarios were studied for when the system is not balanced, in order to avoid this occurrence. All in all, the set of tools that were developed led to a considerable reduction of the time spent by human resources on accessing critical information, as well as an improvement of the analysis of their industrial processes.