Autor: Matthias Grauer

A widely established tool for modeling, analysing, evaluating and optimizing in manufacturing planning is the discrete-event material flow simulation. Considerable benefits of using simulation show the necessity of increasingly applying simulation in the planning process. However, applying material flow simulation is also very costly. Results generated from simulation studies can be used for creating simulation-based characteristic diagrams. These diagrams allow the reduction of expenditures required for modeling and experimentation. Simulation-based characteristic diagrams can be used for efficiently solving frequent simulation problems. This paper introduces a methodology for reducing the expenditures required for creating simulation-based characteristic diagrams. The application of this methodology is demonstrated in an example.

For manufacturers worldwide, globalization provides the opportunity of creating globally distributed manufacturing networks. In order to plan production in a manufacturing network, production sites have to be assessed accordingly. Interdependencies between product design, process design and the manufacturing site have to be taken into consideration. This article introduces a method that allows for planning globally distributed manufacturing networks focussing on these interdependencies.