Modeling and Simulation of Manufacturing Line Improvement

In the paper an example of manufacturing line form automotive industry is analyzed. The line consists of five presses, that can be operated by humans or industrial robots. Since human factors affect destabilization of the production processes, robots are preferred to apply. The problem is how to determine the real difference in the work efficiency between human and robot. Because of problem complexity, Discrete Events Simulation (DES) method have been used. Three models have been developed including manufacturing line before and after robotization and taking into account stochastic parameters of availability and reliability of the machines, operators and robots. Analysis of the production efficiency of the press shop lines operated by human operators or industrial robots are presented. We apply OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) indicator to present how the availability and reliability parameters influence over the performance of the workstations, in particular in the short and long time period.