PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT METHOD FOR ONE-OF-A-KIND PRODUCT BY USING A DISCRETE-EVENT PRODUCTION SIMULATION : APPLICATION TO AN IN-GROUND LNG TANK

Abstract

Recently, the demand of LNG is increasing and KHI is one of the world’s leading manufactures. We must satisfy the customer’s request: high quality, fast delivery, and low cost. In order to maximize efficiency of the production line, it is important to standardize work and create “standard work combination tables” for each worker. However, in the case of one-of-a-kind products such as an LNG storage tank, it is difficult to prepare the optimal standard work combination table through iteration of trial-and-error. A discrete event simulator is a useful tool by which the performance of the production line can be virtually checked. The authors developed a method to create a standard work combination table for a flow shop line including multiple workers using discrete event simulation. As a result, we created an efficient standard work combination table in a short time without actual factory operation. Thus, we drew out the capacity of the production line to the maximum extent from the start of production.