Newspaper Production

Challenge

When a project is clear, it can be done extremely fast. The knowledge of the production facility was so good that it was a matter of implementing without delays. The project aimed to build a newspaper manufacturing facility simulation. The papers were produced in 1 to 4 machines operating at all hours, transported by forklifts, and loaded to trucks for shipment. The idea was to understand the current state and define strategic elements to minimize truck waiting time for deliveries.

Solution

The solution was a discrete-events model built in AnyLogic with statistics outputs, Excel exports, and production status information.

The aim was to illustrate the time schedule from collecting manufactured products from a machine to loading for delivery. The following questions were clarified:

• How many products should be stored when a production run first passes through before being transferred to an intermediate storage area?
• How does loading change if multiple forklifts are used?
• How long is the waiting time of vehicles before loading, and how long does loading take?

Outcome

This project was presented to high management as a demo to pursue additional projects. No process improvement was necessary and no new strategies were requested.

Project Features

• Industry: Manufacturing
• Model: Discrete Events
• Duration: 2 weeks