Material Handling by Automated Guided Vehicle System Using Discrete-Event Simulation : A case study at Autoliv, Thailand

Sammanfattning: A case study for this project is performed at Autoliv in Thailand the company uses a lean production flow approach. This manufacturing plant operates on the level of Industry 3.0, which automates processes using information technology. The case study scenario in manufacturing plants that runs in industrial automation 3.0 has some problems in material handling under the logistics division. By implementing AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) with help of simulation, the time reduction factor through route and time optimization can be processed and displayed. This will have a direct impact on increasing the material handling efficiency in the production plant. The simulation used for AGV in plant layout is Discrete Event Simulation (DES), which divides each event according to its time. Siemens’s Tecnomatix Plant Simulation software is used as a software. This software handles complex production systems and provides control methods. In this thesis work, the entire plant is implemented in the simulated environment based on the plant layout as per dimensions. Then the AGV routing is done from source to destination. The stations are made as per the requirements between the source and the destination for loading from/ unloading to AGV. The processing time of these stations is given as inputs and the simulation is run for a shift to get the throughput. The specification of the AGV such as speed and dimensions given in the simulated environment is taken from the case study of AGV. A total of 55 AGV models’ are studied and 40 of them are selected for this particular plant layout, they are selected based on their features along with the throughput of units transferred from source to destination. The parameters of the AGV are based on the case study of AGV models. The unit throughput acquired in the simulated environment by the AGV is 20% to 22.5% more efficient than manual material handling.