This paper describes the application of dynamic simulation to evaluate material handling resource utilization for a stamping plant in the automotive industry. The other objective of this study was evaluation of throughput relative to press schedules, shift patterns, the number of material handling resources (i.e. fork truck and tugger train drivers), and storage inventory levels. This dynamic s...

In this paper, we present a formulation of the plant layout problem where the objective is to minimize work-in-process. We show that the choice of layout has a direct impact on work-inprocess accumulation, manufacturing lead time, achievable throughput rates, and required material handling capacity. More importantly, we show that layouts generated using a queueing-based model can be very differ...