A methodology for decision-making in the performance evaluation of multistage multiproduct production lines

This paper proposes a methodology for the evaluation of the performance of multistage multiproduct production lines, based on discrete-event simulation models, and developed in an Arena simulation environment. Its purpose is that of analysing blockage and starvation phenomena on a complex production line so as to assist in the decision-making process, since it allows for a greater understanding of the functioning of the production line. This is undertaken through the variation of different parameters, thus contributing to a better specification, characterization and definition of the most efficient planning and control system to be implemented in multistage multiproduct manufacturing processes. The methodology was validated by performing different simulation experiments and will be applied to a multistage multiproduct production line, based on a real case, with a closed-loop network configuration of machines and intermediate buffers consisting of conveyors, which is very common in the automobile sector. There are, in fact, very few studies undertaken which use simulation as a support tool in the decision-making process in the context of networks of closed-loop production lines.