Market forces and technological advancements continue to accelerate the already unprecedented levels of information and product exchange around the world. Customers drive this whirlwind of demand and manufacturers use innovative supply chain strategies to delivery an ever increasing variety of desired goods, more quickly than ever before. While some fluctuations in customer demand, due to […]
In the automotive industry, the entire supply chain is driven by the assembly line sequence. Links within the chain are relied upon to produce and deliver parts on time to avoid shortages in subsequent links. Whether scheduling multiple stages within one facility or across multiple facilities, the risk tolerance and the need to facilitate different […]
A digital twin is a digital representation of a real-world entity that contains both the structure and the dynamics of the real-world entity. It is connected to its real-world counterpart, so it continuously updates itself representing a near real-time status of its real counterpart. The Digital Twin also contains the history of the existence of […]
Today most production managers are participating in a race, whether they know it or not. It's the race to adopt and implement new manufacturing systems and technologies. While adopting new technology is always challenging, this process is made more difficult by the fact that most factories already have a set of systems in place. These […]
A New Approach to Sequencing Optimization Optessa MLS, versions 7.0 and beyond introduce multi-zone production sequencing, a new approach to optimization which can benefit plants with the need to generate a sequence for multiple production areas—each zone can have its own sequence, with its own set of constraints, and all zones can be optimized at […]
Industry 4.0 envisages a flexible network of connected Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), working autonomously and self-optimizing performance across the network. Optimizing the sub-components of the system does not necessarily optimize the overall system [1]. To achieve a synergy, there is a need for a more global optimization of the entire system. Decisions like what to […]
Problem Are you still spending time on spreadsheets adjusting production plans and schedules? If so, you are not alone. Lora Cecere (Bumps, Cracks and Opportunities Forbes, May 20, 2014) says that it is a dirty little secret' that production planning and scheduling often continues to be done on spreadsheets, despite the money and effort invested in software. Sometimes […]
