Transactions on Data Analysis in Social Science

Transactions on Data Analysis in Social Science

Balancing the queuing systems and improving the production throughout using Simulation in a job shop environment

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Department of industrial engineering, Science and Research branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The management of production bottlenecks has become a critical issue in the effective planning and control of manufacturing systems, as bottlenecks directly constrain throughput, increase lead times, and reduce overall system efficiency. Simulation techniques provide a powerful and practical tool for analyzing and improving such systems, offering opportunities to test alternative scenarios and evaluate decision-making strategies without disrupting real operations. This study investigates the application of discrete-event simulation to a job shop production environment with the objective of enhancing productivity by identifying and mitigating bottlenecks. Using Arena simulation software, an initial model of the production line was developed and validated through both rough-cut capacity planning (RCCP) and expert judgment from the planning department. The bottleneck analysis employed a heuristic approach based on the Shortest Processing Time (SPT) rule to minimize average queue length and waiting times. Results obtained from five simulation replications demonstrated that, after two adjustment attempts, the production line achieved a balanced flow, significantly reducing queuing and waiting times. Consequently, system throughput increased from baseline level A to A+448, corresponding to an estimated financial gain of approximately one million U.S. dollars. These findings highlight the potential of simulation-based approaches for supporting data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement in job shop production systems.
Keywords

  • Bon, A. T., & Shahrin, N. N. (2016, March 8–10). Assembly line optimization using Arena simulation. In Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).
  • Makooie, A. (2015). An introduction to production planning (4th ed.). Daneshparvar.
  • Bedworth, D. D., & Bailey, J. E. (1987). Integrated production control systems. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Nahavandi, N., & Abbasian, M. (2016). An efficient approach for bottleneck resource(s) detection problem in the multi-objective dynamic job shop environments. IJE Transactions C: Aspects, 29(12), 1691–1703. https://doi.org/10.5829/idosi.ije.2016.29.12c.08
  • Ebadi, A., & Moslehi, G. (2013). An optimal method for the preemptive job shop scheduling problem. Computers & Operations Research, 40(5), 1314–1327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cor.2012.12.004
  • Gore, K. A., Jalwadi, S. N., & Natarajan, S. (2018, April 13). Systematic efficiency improvement by optimizing the assembly line using Witness simulation software. JournalNX: A Multidisciplinary Peer Reviewed Journal.
  • Ali, S., & Lalmazloumian, M. (2011). Simulation of a manufacturing assembly line based on Witness. In Third International Conference on Computational Intelligence, Communication Systems and Networks. IEEE.
  • Cheng, G., & Liu, Z. Y. (n.d.). The research of modeling and simulation on improving efficiency for job shop in manufacturing enterprise. China Academy of Machinery Science and Technology.
  • Lanner Group Ltd. (n.d.). Learning Witness: Book one. Manufacturing Performance Edition.
  • Ramasesh, R. (1990). Dynamic job shop scheduling: A survey of simulation research. European Journal of Operational Research, 18(1), 43–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-0483(90)90017-4
  • Li, Y., & Li, R. (n.d.). Simulation and optimization of the power station coal-fired logistics system based on Witness simulation.
  • Pidd, M. (2004). Computer simulation in management science (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
  • Kelton, W. D., Sadowski, R. P., & Zupick, N. B. (2015). Simulation with Arena (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
  • Zahraee, S. M., Golroudbary, S. R., Hashemi, A., Afshar, J., & Haghighi, M. (2014). Simulation of manufacturing production line based on Arena. Advanced Materials Research, 933, 744–748. https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.933.744
  • Kotachi, M., Rabadi, G., & Obeid, M. F. (2013). Simulation modeling and analysis of complex port operations with multimodal transportation. Procedia Computer Science, 20, 229–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2013.09.266
  • Kumar, S., & Phrommathed, P. (2006). New product development by simulation and optimization. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 17(1), 104–132. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410380610639533
  • Arena Simulation Software. (2018). What is simulation? Manufacturing process optimization. Retrieved September 2, 2018, from http://www.arenasimulation.com/business-processes/manufacturing-process-optimization
  • Rathmell, J., & Sturrock, D. T. (2002). The Arena product family: Enterprise modeling solutions. In Winter Simulation Conference. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC.2002.1172880
  • John, B., & Joseph, J. E. (2013, February). Analysis and simulation of factory layout using ARENA. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 3(2). ISSN 2250-3153.
Volume 3, Issue 2
Spring 2021
Pages 93-103

  • Receive Date 09 March 2021
  • Revise Date 14 May 2021
  • Accept Date 16 June 2021