Simulation Model for Wire Harness Design in the Car Production Line Optimization Using the SimPy Library

Ruddy Guerrero, Adrian Serrano-Hernandez, Jose Pascual and Javier Faulin
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Ruddy Guerrero: Institute of Smart Cities, Department Statistics, Computer Science, and Mathematics, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Adrian Serrano-Hernandez: Institute of Smart Cities, Department Statistics, Computer Science, and Mathematics, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Jose Pascual: Department Statistics, Computer Science, and Mathematics, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Javier Faulin: Institute of Smart Cities, Department Statistics, Computer Science, and Mathematics, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: The automotive industry is one of the most important economic sectors in the world. At the beginning, vehicles only had mechanical components, so the use of an automotive wire harness was not indispensable. Cars today are equipped with electronic components that, in addition to the basic operations of moving, turning, and stopping, perform more and more functions every day. Wiring harnesses are indispensable for controlling these electronic components. Automotive wiring harnesses have hundreds of variants, are principally manufactured with customized designs, and are measured specifically for each car. A large number of production variants increase labor hours, as well as rework, inventory, and manufacturing costs. Even when technologies exist to assist in the design of production lines, today, the design of production lines is mainly based on experience from previous cases. This paper aims to show how a discrete event simulation permits support for decision making for the proper design of assembly lines, as well as identifying possible unbalances in production lines and overloaded processes. In our work, we design and implement a discrete event simulation model of this production using the SimPy Python library. Finally, a case study in the automotive sector is presented, a production week is simulated, and the current plant configuration and possible improvement scenarios are analyzed.

Keywords: automotive wire harnesses; modeling and simulation; discrete event simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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