workload

In the automotive industry, picking areas - so called supermarkets - are used to supply the production with material. By supplying the material in small quantities and with high frequency supermarkets are an important enabler of just in time production. A new method is presented, which allows a quantitative evaluation of order processing time and physical workload. Using the method, design alternatives as well as existing supermarkets can be assessed quantitatively at a favorable cost-benefit ratio.

Over the past years the use of simulation methods for designing production systems in the automotive industry has been enforced. To identify trends and needs for action, an online survey was sent to 181 simulation experts and users in the environment of the VDA workgroup Ablaufsimulation. This paper illustrates the results of the survey and points out development steps that are necessary for simulation in general and for the VDA Toolkit in particular.