Simulation Aids Long-Term Capacity at a Sunglasses Manufacturing Plant

Abstract

Simulation has long been used as one of many powerful analytical tools to improve productivity and eliminate bottlenecks. Historically, the first major economic sector in which simulation was thus used was – and still often is – manufacturing. More recently, simulation analyses have expanded into logistics and transport, the entire supply chain, the health-care sector, call centers, and service industries. Equally significant, early uses of simulation were largely tactical and of short-term viewpoint – the pinpointing of and cost-effective eradication of an all-too-visible bottleneck. Recently, the applications of simulation have often become more strategic and of long-term viewpoint. The simulation application discussed in this paper is indeed strategic; industrial engineers and business strategic planners used it to advantage in the long-term (multiple-year) capacity planning of a factory manufacturing sunglasses.