Simuleringsmodell över Ålö AB
During year 2004 Ålö AB made significant change in their production process. The production of front loaders is nowadays highly automated with short operation times. To be able to control their process in a better way Ålö recently decided that they needed a tool for simulation of their production and to shift patterns. This final thesis started with a pilot study in Ålö?s factory in Brännland. This was conducted in order to get a better knowledge of the process and to get to know people that later on would be needed for support. After extensive collecting of production data, such as volumes, queues and shift patterns, I had gained enough raw materials in order to start building the simulation tool. The software used for simulations is Simul8. This final thesis ranges over the whole process: from orders generated by the company?s customers and all the way to assembled loaders. The only step that has been left out in this simulation is the last step, which only is a test of the front loaders hydraulic system. The theoretical section in this final thesis is focused on Lean-production, since the company changed their strategy to Lean-thinking during the big changes in the production process in 2004. The factory has transformed from producing loaders from raw material to today?s process. Now days the process is an assembly line with almost all components bought in from suppliers. There are a number of conclusions that can be drawn based on my results. To make the process less vulnerable for variations in the production I suggest that Ålö increases the buffer of empty carriers for the conveyor between their assembly line and their welding line. Another conclusion that my simulation can verify is that there is no idea in increasing the amount of carriers in the total conveyor system if the buffer between the welding line and the assembly line is not increased. Finally, I present fact that shows that Ålö?s management need to negotiate for continuous running of their paint shop. Without this negotiation the total output will decrease with at least 52 front loaders, just because the PIA value (products in work) in the queue in front of the assembly line is too low during the major time of the day. Another disturbance that can be measured is that the start up time for the process is much longer if the PIA value is too low.