Digitalization and Optimization of a Production Flow

Sammanfattning: Digital twins are a very essential tool widely used by manufacturing companies nowadays. The scope of this project is to build a digital model of a real production flow present in SWEP’s factory in Landskrona. The chosen software to accomplish the project is Tecnomatix Plant Simulation. Each module is constructed with real cycle times, OEE figures, velocities, and changeover times corresponding to the heat exchangers that are processed. Moreover, changes in the raw materials, tools, and orders are taken into consideration. To obtain a realistic behavior, real production orders are the input for the digital model. The simulation model can calculate different production parameters such as throughput times, waiting times, utilisations, or bottlenecks, among others. This digital model is also used to optimize the performance of the manufacturing process by changing the sequence of the processed jobs and it is utilized to explore potential improvements of its real twin. This is performed using advanced tools such as Genetic Algorithms or multi-level experiments. Finally, changes in the production flow are carried out to explore potential improvements in the mentioned facility’s productivity, flexibility, and robustness. Some of the experiments show substantial productivity improvements and will be evaluated economically.