General Motors Corp. (GM) and The Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G) have long used simulation in their manufacturing processes.
GM uses simulation to identify and overcome bottlenecks in its plants. “Simulation has allowed us to design complex systems with confidence, knowing that our manufacturing systems will perform as predicted after the initial launch phase has been completed,” says Kevin Kohls, director of throughput analysis and simulation at GM North America, in Detroit. The advantage is that GM is able to use simulation to anticipate and eliminate bottlenecks. “In the past, certain areas of the plant could be counted on to run poorly with the introduction of each new program. These bottlenecks cost GM a lot of money in missed production and overtime,” says Kohls. “Simulation helped us see where the design errors were occurring and correct them before installation.”
The tough nut for Kohls is making sure he’s working with good data. “Data that is not accurate and representative is usually the downfall of manufacturing simulation activities,” says Kohls. “We had to internally develop data collection standards based on requirements of our throughput tools.”
Plug-and-play simulation
P&G has taken the recent step of designing plug-and-play simulation programs that can easily be handed off to various manufacturing facilities around the globe. They can also be easily shared with suppliers. “We recently launched a new and improved bottle analysis system that is designed to minimize the complexity of setting up analysis models for bottles through the use of extensive automation,” says David Henning, section head, package and device CAE, at P&G, in Cincinnati. To create its packaging simulation, Henning turned to Abaqus from Abaqus Inc., of Pawtucket, R.I., for analysis, and HyperMesh, from Altair Engineering, Troy, Mich., for the preprocessing codes. For the automation capabilities that didn’t exist, Henning’s team wrote original code.
Using this model that was built across desktops, databases and supercomputers, P&G was able to share the simulation capability with its European, Central American and Asian users, as well as with suppliers. “Ultimately, we have a standardized system that delivers consistent, high quality analysis in record time,” says Henning.
See the story that goes with this sidebar: Manufacturing by Computer Simulation
