Development of a Data Driven Simulation tool of a Flexible Manufacturing System

This research focuses on developing a data driven simulation tool of a flexible manufacturing system at WILA for the goal of aiding in process analysis and improvement decisions. WILA B.V. is a manufacturer of press brake tooling and tool holding. At their production facility in Lochem, toolholder parts are produced on two flexible manufacturing systems. These systems cope with a lot of interruptions which are hard to asses using the current method for performance measuring. By combining this faulty process with the ambition to create a digital factory, the idea arose to create a simulation tool for the given process as a way to assess the performance of the system in more detail. Through means of a literature review, knowledge was gathered on the subject of simulation studies. Using the found frameworks during this review, a methodology was set up to create this data driven simulation tool of the given flexible manufacturing systems.