Plate/sheet nest release and throughput simulation for WSC '01

The BT/Raymond Corporation is a manufacturer of narrow aisle electric fork-trucks and uses two Delmia simulation software packages: UltraArc(R) and Quest(R). In the Greene, NY facility, one of the Quest(R) simulations shows the start of the fabrication process. The plate/sheet line is a group of machines that punch, machine, profile, and form steel material ranging in thickness from 0.030" to 1.250". Since each product is built to customer order, the mix of parts to produce on the line is continually changing. The simulation of this process reads the data that schedules the work for the various machines, then runs the line showing capacity and throughput issues a day ahead of the factory floor run. The data that the model reads can also be changed to experiment with different product build quantities.