Concept and Case Study for a Generic Simulation as a Digital Shadow to Be Used for Production Optimisation

Stefan Kassen,Agnes Pechmann,Maximilian Zarte,Holger Tammen

doi:10.3390/pr9081362

Abstract

Optimising an existing production plant is a challenging task for companies. Necessary physical test runs disturb running production processes. Simulation models are one opportunity to limit these physical test runs. This is particularly important since today’s fast and intelligent networking opportunities in production systems are in line with the call of Industry 4.0 for substantial and frequent changes. Creating simulation models for those systems requires high effort and in-depth knowledge of production processes. In the current literature, digital twins promise several advantages for production optimisation and can be used to simulate production systems, which reduce necessary physical test runs and related costs. While most companies are not able to create digital twins yet, companies using enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have the general capability to create digital shadows. This paper presents a concept and a case study for a generic simulation of production systems in AnyLogic™ to create digital shadows as the first step towards a full digital twin. The generic simulation visualises production systems automatically and displays key performance indicators (KPIs) for the planned production program, using representational state transfer (REST) interfaces to extract product and production data from an ERP system. The case study has been applied in a learning factory of the University of Applied Life Sciences Emden/Leer. The results prove the presented concept of the generic simulation and show the limits and challenges of working with generic simulation models.

Highlights

IntroductionA digital twin can be created with the help of a simulation model
Industrial companies must be able to adapt production logistics quickly to remain competitive as the high frequency and speed of change often result in inefficiencies and capacity problems [1]
This paper presents a generic simulation model in AnyLogicTM that can solve the problems described above

Summary

Introduction

A digital twin can be created with the help of a simulation model. This digital twin represents the real world, e.g., an existing or planned production system. If the digital twin is developed using real data, virtual tests can be performed. These virtual tests can partly replace expensive physical tests, e.g., designing complex plants, introducing new products, or sequence planning [2]. These simulation models are often not used for the following reasons

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion