EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE CONFIGURATIONS FOR A MANUFACTURING PLANT: THE CASE OF AN ITALIAN COMPANY IN THE BUSINESS OF OIL AND FUEL ADDITIVES

This paper describes a simulation study conducted on an Italian firm involved in the production and packaging of fluid mixtures, such as motorcycle and automotive lubricating oils and fuel additives. This Italian company needs to expand its production capacity, which is now close to saturation point, with the aim of being able to meet growing future demand. Using AnyLogic® commercial simulation software and in particular its Fluid Library, the manufacturing plant in its current configuration was modelled and studied. After addressing the initial transient problem and validating the model, the maximum increase in demand that can be met by the actual plant and an alternative configuration of the manufacturing plant were analysed. Thanks to results of the simulation study, it was possible to help the company management in the selection of the new manufacturing plant configuration by providing key performance metrics predicted by simulation.