Project Overview
Client Background
PACCAR Inc designs and manufactures a variety of trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF brand names. One of the key paint shops was operating at a slower rate than the rest of the plant. PACCAR wanted to solve this by synchronizing the operation with the rest of the mail assembly line.
VISUAL8 designed a simulation model to analyze the paint shop’s day to day operation. Using this model VISUAL8 was able to identify how to improve the process flow and lower production costs.
PACCAR designs, manufactures, and supports premium light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates.
Project Features
- Analyze the Paint Shop’s operation and identify areas for improvement.
- Simulation determined where and how large product buffers should be to handle the flow of parts.
- Simulation model allowed PACCAR to examine the impact of alternative rework strategies.
- Visual8 was able to assist PACCAR in addressing and answering the question of how to increase its production rate.
The Challenge
The paint shop at a key plant was operating at a slower rate than the rest of the plant and PACCAR wanted to synchronize the operation with the main line assembly.
There appeared to be sufficient capacity within the Paint Shop to keep pace with the production rate of the trim department plant, however there were human resource and materials handling issues to consider. There was also an interest in optimizing the use of energy within the continuous oven to reduce production costs.
The Solution
Simulation Model
Visual8 built a simulation model to analyze the Paint Shop’s operation and identify areas for improvement, as well as to improve process flow and overall equipment effectiveness.
The simulation determined where and how large product buffers should be to handle the flow of parts, taking into account minor interruptions in supply or equipment failure or product quality. It showed the utilization of the Prep, Washer, Paint Booths (both robot and manual), the Flash Tunnel, the Oven and Rework Area.
The materials handling systems including the chain conveyors, manual loaders and the Storeveyor were monitored and reported on to help identify bottleneck or starved locations.
Analysis
The simulation model allowed PACCAR to examine the impact of alternative rework strategies on throughput, for example repeating Paint Shop work from scratch vs. allocating more time and resources to the touch-up area.
Results and Outcome
Visual8 was able to assist PACCAR in addressing and answering the question of how to increase its production rate to the pace of the plant. The simulation model also identified how much buffer capacity was required in the system and the capability of the Paint Shop to accommodate minor interruptions in supply, equipment reliability, and to handle rework for those parts that have quality issues.