Methodology for simulation application to virtual manufacturing environments

Abstract

Supply chain management, enterprise integration and are all necessary to compete in today's market. As new products are developed and partnerships are formed, companies will need to focus on global optimization across the entire supply chain, not just a portion. This paper describes the application of discrete event simulation for modeling the entire supply chain, or what has been coined factories. Using simulation during the design and implementation phases provides the supply chain with valuable insight into upstream and downstream processes to allow them to understand impacts before contracts are settled, schedules are defined or facilities are developed. There are many benefits to he realized from virtual factory modeling. The first and most obvious is it provides the means and visibility to make decisions at the level. This includes areas such as: of shared resources (e.g., shipping containers); schedule alignment (evaluation of strategic inventory); and contingency planning. Secondly, it aids in communication between the suppliers and customers by providing better visibility into all of the business operations, policies and assumptions. Finally, it is the only tool that provides a visual representation of the entire virtual factory. It is the one place where management can see how their products an moving through this virtual factory without traveling from one company to the next. Implementation experience with the IRIDIUM low earth orbit satellite communications system is described. This virtual factory simulation model along with focus on lean manufacturing and is what has driven Motorola and its partners to produce 66 satellites at an unheard of rate of 1 satellite per week.