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A Simulation Program for Forecasts of Production at Tetra Pak Packaging Material AB in Lund

Lennartsson, Dan and Månsson, Peter (2004)
Packaging Logistics
Abstract
Tetra Pak Packaging Material AB (TPPM) is the division within the Tetra Pak concern

that produces the packaging material that later on will be used for liquid products. There

are 63 TPPM plants in the world, and the factory in Lund is one of the largest with its 325

employees. It is also the TPPM factory that manufactures the most varied set of packages.

There are nine producing machines, divided into three machine groups: printing

machines, laminating machines and slitting machines. The department of planning at

TPPM plans the orders with the help of a program called ProPlanner. What they lack is a

tool to predict the lead times of the planned orders and the capacity of every machine

during a specific period of time. This tool... (More)
Tetra Pak Packaging Material AB (TPPM) is the division within the Tetra Pak concern

that produces the packaging material that later on will be used for liquid products. There

are 63 TPPM plants in the world, and the factory in Lund is one of the largest with its 325

employees. It is also the TPPM factory that manufactures the most varied set of packages.

There are nine producing machines, divided into three machine groups: printing

machines, laminating machines and slitting machines. The department of planning at

TPPM plans the orders with the help of a program called ProPlanner. What they lack is a

tool to predict the lead times of the planned orders and the capacity of every machine

during a specific period of time. This tool should complement the ProPlanner.

To solve the problem we decided to make a simulation program. The reason we did so is

that there are so many random events that affect the production so it is hard to calculate

forecasts by using a deterministic method. The software we used is called AutoMod and

it is a simulation program especially made for simulations of production and materials

handling. After having studied the processes of production at TPPM, we structured the

simulation program and collected the data needed for the program. The parameters used

were:

? Set Up times for the machines

? MTTR (Mean Time To Repair)

? MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure)

? Run speed for the different orders in the different machine groups

? Planned stops in the machines

? Stops during weekends in the different machines

An important thing for this project was that the user interface of the simulation program

must be user-friendly. All parameters must be possible to change and to do this we have

created an easy-to-use Excel interface integrated with the simulation program. The output

from the simulation is also displayed in this interface. The reliability of the output gets

higher if more than one run for every simulation is made. It is possible to do 1-100 runs,

and tests of the program showed that at least 30 runs should be made to get an accurate

result.

The simulation program will help the personnel at the department of planning at TPPM.

They can control if the lead times of the orders, as they are planned, will exceed the

predetermined due date and if the capacity of the machines are enough. As all results

from the simulation program are forecasts, there are no guarantees that the future will

look exactly as the forecasts. If no dramatic events will occur in the production line,

though, the program will give a good general view of the production in the near future. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lennartsson, Dan and Månsson, Peter
supervisor
organization
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Simulation, Forecasts of production, Tetra Pak Packaging Material AB, Technological sciences, Teknik
language
English
id
1318645
date added to LUP
2008-06-03 00:00:00
date last changed
2010-02-01 14:40:03
@misc{1318645,
  abstract     = {{Tetra Pak Packaging Material AB (TPPM) is the division within the Tetra Pak concern

that produces the packaging material that later on will be used for liquid products. There

are 63 TPPM plants in the world, and the factory in Lund is one of the largest with its 325

employees. It is also the TPPM factory that manufactures the most varied set of packages.

There are nine producing machines, divided into three machine groups: printing

machines, laminating machines and slitting machines. The department of planning at

TPPM plans the orders with the help of a program called ProPlanner. What they lack is a

tool to predict the lead times of the planned orders and the capacity of every machine

during a specific period of time. This tool should complement the ProPlanner.

To solve the problem we decided to make a simulation program. The reason we did so is

that there are so many random events that affect the production so it is hard to calculate

forecasts by using a deterministic method. The software we used is called AutoMod and

it is a simulation program especially made for simulations of production and materials

handling. After having studied the processes of production at TPPM, we structured the

simulation program and collected the data needed for the program. The parameters used

were:

? Set Up times for the machines

? MTTR (Mean Time To Repair)

? MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure)

? Run speed for the different orders in the different machine groups

? Planned stops in the machines

? Stops during weekends in the different machines

An important thing for this project was that the user interface of the simulation program

must be user-friendly. All parameters must be possible to change and to do this we have

created an easy-to-use Excel interface integrated with the simulation program. The output

from the simulation is also displayed in this interface. The reliability of the output gets

higher if more than one run for every simulation is made. It is possible to do 1-100 runs,

and tests of the program showed that at least 30 runs should be made to get an accurate

result.

The simulation program will help the personnel at the department of planning at TPPM.

They can control if the lead times of the orders, as they are planned, will exceed the

predetermined due date and if the capacity of the machines are enough. As all results

from the simulation program are forecasts, there are no guarantees that the future will

look exactly as the forecasts. If no dramatic events will occur in the production line,

though, the program will give a good general view of the production in the near future.}},
  author       = {{Lennartsson, Dan and Månsson, Peter}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{A Simulation Program for Forecasts of Production at Tetra Pak Packaging Material AB in Lund}},
  year         = {{2004}},
}