QUALITY THROUGH INTEGRATION OF PRODUCTION AND SHOP FLOOR MANAGEMENT BY DISCRETE EVENT SIMULATION

With the intention to integrate strategic and tactical decision making and develop the capability of plans and schedules reconfiguration and synchronization in a very short cycle time many firms have proceeded to the adoption of ERP and Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) technologies. The final goal is a purposeful scheduling system that guide in the right direction the current, high priority needs of the shop floor while remaining consistent with long-term production plans. The difference, and the power, of Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) is its ability to mimic dynamic manufacturing systems, consisting of complex structures, and many heterogeneous interacting components. This paper describes such an integrated system (ERP/APS/DES) and draw attention to the essential role of simulation based scheduling within it.