Iterative use of simulation and scheduling methodologies to improve productivity

Experienced and wise industrial engineering educators and practitioners have long understood that industrial engineering is a coherent discipline encompassing techniques that work best synergistically, not a motley collection of specialized techniques each isolated in a separate chimney. As an example of the synergies which industrial engineering can bring to process improvement in a production environment, this case study presents the integrated use of process simulation, production scheduling, and detailed analysis of material-handling methods and their improvement. The study undertook the identification and improvement of production and scheduling policies to the benefit of a manufacturing process whose original throughput capacity fell significantly short of high and increasing demand.