A systems integration perspective to manufacturing modelling and simulation

Electronics manufacturing, and manufacturing in general, has become a challenging sector due to prevailing global pressures. To be able to thrive, companies need powerful analysis methods to support design. Modelling and simulation approaches are key in this context and previous proposals have provided valuable support for manufacturing systems design. However, further improvements can still be achieved in terms of systems integration. Complete and integrated representations of manufacturing systems in a single model are required to enable more complete and realistic analyses. The integration of models of different manufacturing systems in a supply chain should also be facilitated to allow wider scope analyses In this work two concepts are proposed to improve these points. The first concept is an integrated modelling framework that considers the most relevant parts of a manufacturing system in an integrated manner. The second concept is the development of simulation software following hierarchical and object oriented principles. These concepts lead to the implementation of a simulation tool called INMOST. The modelling and simulation capabilities of INMOST in terms of systems integration was tested in a case study and compared to an approach typically used in the industry. The results prove the potential benefits achieved through the concepts proposed.