DISCRETE EVENT SIMULATION
Task
Optimise the plant to achieve maximum revenue with budget. You may need to optimise the plant for the priorities of the machines first. The expected revenue for each completed and working gearbox is £80.
Investigate what effect a breakdown of each of the CNC workstation and the conveyor for 90 minutes has on the daily production rate.
Write a report describing your model and present results on a series of tests on the model. In your conclusions, present an evaluation of the model in the light of all assumptions made and what limitations they place on the model.
The report must be in the form of a standard technical report or article to include:
Abstract
Introduction
This should include some explanation of stochastic modelling and methods and tools available to carry out discrete-event simulation to form a literature review. For example, you might want to discuss software packages other than Witness and techniques such as Petri Net models.
You should also introduce the problem by a description of the plant; the use of a block diagram may help.
Methods
Describe your modelling technique and the structure of the Witness model. Justify your approaches to building the model and include any relevant references. Describe the approach to optimisation and describe all equations or functions used.
Results
Present the results of the optimisation(s) and experiments and the expected daily and hourly production and revenue from the plant.
Discussion
Discuss the model, its performance and implications on the real system. Discuss and evaluate the limitations of the model.
Conclusions
Provide some conclusions in a form that will advise the company management on the feasibility
and expected returns for the plant.
The report will be submitted to UniHub as a PDF or WORD document, with a copy of your model and optimisation / experimentation files. The report will be submitted to a Turnitin dropbox and the model and other files to a separate dropbox. Assessment will be based on your research, the explanation of the model generation, description of the experimentation / optimisation, the presentation of results and conclusions. An element of assessment will be for a sensible and logical graphical presentation of the model in Witness.