https://doi.org/10.24928/2017/0232

Simulation of Production Line Improvement in Modular Home Manufacturing

Chelsea Ritter¹, Youyi Zhang², Roger Dupuis³ & Mohamed Al-Hussein⁴

¹MSc Student, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hole School of Construction Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, [email protected]
²MSc Student, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hole School of Construction Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, [email protected]
³Safety – Quality – Continuous Improvement Manager , Kent Homes, Bouctouche, New Brunswick, Canada, [email protected]
⁴Professor, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hole School of Construction Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, [email protected]

Abstract

The production of modular homes is highly variable, where the production time for a single home can vary significantly. Because there is a large amount of variation and customization in the home models built, operation time on the production line varies greatly, and considerable effort is needed for production line flow balancing. Simulation not only allows the manufacturer to identify areas of potential improvement on the line, but also helps to measure the likely success of proposed changes before investment in or implementation of these changes. In this paper, a case study is presented which uses simulation to evaluate the current-state performance of a wall panel production line, and to validate several proposed changes in terms of whether or not they will be effective and should be implemented.

Keywords

Production line performance, Simulation, Lean, Modular home manufacturing

Files

Reference

Ritter, C. , Zhang, Y. , Dupuis, R. & Al-Hussein, M. 2017. Simulation of Production Line Improvement in Modular Home Manufacturing, 25th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 737-744. doi.org/10.24928/2017/0232

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