Simulation aided disturbance management in one-of-a-kind production on the assembly site

Organizing one-of-a-kind production (OKP) at assembly sites is always a big challenge, especially in shipbuilding industry due to the high complexity of the product and the large number of different parts. In manufacturing, various types of uncertainties and disruptions influence production planning, scheduling and control in daily operations. This paper presents a concept for analyzing and managing disturbances in a systematic way. The method combines process simulation and Virtual Reality in one business process and thus helps a planner to choose the best adjustment of the production plan to deal with a disturbance. Testing the concept by simulating different disturbance scenarios shows a promising impact of the concept in managing these. The presented concept is capable of dealing with disturbances in the complex field of organizing OKP production. It decreases the necessary effort dealing with these and helps the planner.