System Dynamics limits and potentialities in the use of production process simulation

The definition of suitable key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential to control functioning of a production company. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) proposed by Nakajima in 1988 is one of the most used parameters. However, for example, it is not suitable for analysing production lines, since these usually have decoupling points, and specific rules for the buffer filling could be present. For this reason, new parameters like OEEML, OLE etc. have been proposed over the years, even if simulation approach is an efficient possible option to the analytical one: discrete event simulation and System Dynamics (SD) are the most used simulation kinds. This latter, in particular, is typically used in strategic and distribution processes, characterized by a high complexity level. This paper, instead, presents the possibility of using System Dynamics simulation for analysing the performance of a production process. For this reason, a pharmaceutical packaging line has been modelled in Analytica (a SD simulation software), then verification and validation of the simulation model has been done. Some of the most significant parameters of the line have been analysed in order to verify the suitability of the considered approach.