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An integrated methodology for manufacturing systems design using manual and computer simulation
Author(s) -
Paquet Victor,
Lin Li
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
human factors and ergonomics in manufacturing and service industries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.408
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1520-6564
pISSN - 1090-8471
DOI - 10.1002/hfm.10026
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , process (computing) , computer science , task (project management) , operator (biology) , systems design , industrial engineering , throughput , engineering design process , manufacturing engineering , systems engineering , engineering , software engineering , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , statistics , chemistry , mathematics , repressor , transcription factor , telecommunications , wireless , gene , operating system
Traditional approaches to manufacturing systems design utilize a sequential procedure that focuses on production capacity requirements, with human operator task design developed late in the systems design phase. Implementing manufacturing systems in this way is difficult when operations management must design flexible and efficient processes, with an often incomplete understanding of how people can best perform within the system. This study developed an integrated methodology that uses both manual and computer simulations to evaluate system performance and ergonomic issues early in the system design process. Information about operator performance and ergonomics is obtained in the manual simulations, while estimates of operator utilization and system throughput is obtained through computer simulations. An iterative design process is used, with the results of manual and computer simulations informing each other during subsequent simulations. An industrial case study is presented here to demonstrate the effectiveness of this methodology. The results show that the methodology can be used to design manufacturing systems with significant savings in labor cost and improved manufacturing system flexibility. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 13: 19–40, 2003.