Period Batch Control (PBC) system has been known for its implementation with the classical group technology (GT) cells, and it has been known for its simplicity. The main production planning decisions concern the choice of the period length and the stage number and contents. Also, in order to better integrate the production planning with the application of GT cells at the shop floor, the concept of virtual manufacturing cells has been applied. Since virtual cells configurations are changing periodically, a model for implementing the PBC system into virtual manufacturing cells environment is developed. The model enables alignment of the PBC principles and rules with virtual cell design goals. Model is tested on the case study of furniture production. With the use of scheduling software, different scheduling rules were simulated for four production weeks. The experimental results from these for production weeks show how the choice of PBC parameters impacts the virtual cells configurations, machine sharing and utilization.
Nowadays many companies are applying the lean philosophy and value stream mapping (VSM) tool to eliminate and reduce losses and show possible places for further implementation of the lean concept. Since the system change takes place as a consequence, it is very useful to confirm the future system design performance before the actual implementation. This paper presents an application of VSM and computer simulation in a company for manufacturing and distribution of heating, cooling and neutral equipment for catering and trade industry. To improve the quotation creation process, the product configuration system is introduced. The performance of the new system design was confirmed using the discrete event simulation. Simulation results show several performance improvements. Conducted simulation experiments emphasize the better performance of new system design in terms of the accepted quotations, resource utilization, delivery time, work in process, non-value-added time and number of required operators.
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