DISCRETE-EVENT SIMULATION AND COST-ANALYSIS FOR MANUFACTURING OPTIMIZATION OF AN AUTOMOTIVE LCM COMPONENT

Traditional analytical tools used to increase process efficiency and r educe cost have tended to focus on the physical processes employed in each stage of the component manufacture. An alternative method of incr easing efficiency is to view the component manufacturing process as a whole and optimise the integration of each processing stage, such that throughput is optimised for a given manufacturing scenario. In linkin g manufacturing simulations with a technical cost modelling capability there is an opportunity to maximise cost savings. This paper describe s the application of discrete event simulation in combination with tec hnical cost modelling to the production of an SRIM composite cross-car beam. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.