Automatic generation of simulation models of an auto-radio production line

This paper reports the development of a computer application to support the decision making, based on an automatic generation of simulation models, according to different control strategies, to support the redefinition of materials flow processing along an electronic industry production line. An auto-radio production line was chosen, where the transport and respective decisions are made automatically and are coordinated by a control system. The simulation environment (ARENA) is employed in order to allow the production engineer to validate the impact of the control strategies on production. This contributes to an improved specification, characterization and definition of the most efficient control system. For this purpose, six strategies were investigated. The innovative part of this system can be seen in its generic character of both the high level of flexibility from the point of view of physical processing and control strategies and its capacity for parameterization – this flexibility is achieved by means of automatic generation of Arena Models. An additional contribution is the integration, in the simulation environment, of an automatic report generator showing the main performance measures of the models, in which information is accessed via graphics, thereby providing a friendly interface for the user.