Computational Design of Matrix Production Systems through Advancing 3D Discrete Event Simulation: A Case Study

The increasing need for flexibility and scalability in modern manufacturing has led to the development of matrix-structured manufacturing systems (MMS), characterized by a modular structure and flexible control of production resources. However, due to their highly dynamic and stochastic nature, the planning of MMS involves several complexities. The present literature revealed the lack of a comprehensive framework that integrates data analysis and other critical features within a manufacturing oriented simulation tool to support MMS planning. To address this gap, this paper investigates a simulation-based data analysis framework for supporting MMS planning using a manufacturing-oriented simulation tool. For this purpose, use case was tested in a pilot environment, and the presented framework was implemented. The framework facilitated a baseline comparison between linear and MMS configurations of the drone production use case. Also, it allowed to evaluate the effects of input parameters on system performance while considering the physical and hardware limitations of the production use case. The findings from this study provide a foundation to further investigate a simulation-based data analytics framework for MMS planning.