Course syllabus

Course-PM

MPR271 Simulation of production systems lp2 HT22 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Industrial and Materials Science

Link to the detailed course PM in PDF version: CoursePM - Simulation of Production Systems 2022 final.pdf 

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen: Study plan

 

Contact details

Examiner

Anders Skoogh, PhD, Professor

e-mail: anders.skoogh@chalmers.se

Telephone: +46 (0)31 - 772 48 06

Course assistant

Siyuan Chen, PhD student

e-mail: siyuan.chen@chalmers.se

Telephone: +46 (0)31 772 11 89

 

Course purpose

The course vision is to provide an in-depth insight about the potential of the virtual world in industrial innovation processes. This includes establishing an improved awareness about methods and tools for the integration of simulation technology in product, process and production development work procedures. Simulation tools have proven to be very powerful in the development of sustainable production systems covering economic, ecologic and social aspects throughout entire product life-cycles.

The purpose of the course is to advance the students’ knowledge and skills in development of production flows, specifically taking dynamic aspects into consideration. A specific aim is to build a model of a production system using professional discrete event simulation software. This model, combined with established theory, is then used to analyze production systems and provide recommendations improving the sustainability performance with focus on the economic and ecologic aspects.

 

Schedule

Schedule is available in the PDF version of the course PM and at the bottom of this page.

TimeEdit

 

Course literature

• Course PM
• Power-point presentations available at the MPR271 Canvas page
• Scientific papers
• Software manual and Xcelerator program

 

Course design

The course applies problem oriented pedagogy. Centre of learning gravity lays to a great extent on a project work where the students cooperate in groups of two. The practical learning element begins with some basic exercises to familiarize with a professional discrete event simulation software package.

The project work, which is mandatory for examination, aims to support the students putting a systematic methodology for simulation projects into action. Develop a model representing an industrial production flow. Furthermore, with support from Discrete Event Simulation, analyze its weaknesses and in a technical report present proposals for making the production system more efficient. In addition to lectures focusing on theory, the students will read scientific papers and relate them to the project.

Learning Activities

In summary, the course contains five types of learning activities:

• Lectures – Basis for theoretical understanding and to support your project work.
• Programming lectures and seminars – To support learning in DES programming and develop skills in a professional software package.
• Laboratory exercises – Familiarize with the DES software and its user interface. Training in model building, preparation for examination project work.
• Project work – Practice skills learned throughout the course, show skills in communication, project methodology, DES programming, and analysis of production flows.
• Presentation – practice to present and communicate simulation-based results to industrial stakeholders.

 

Learning objectives

LO1: Explain the fundamentals of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and determine in what situation it is a useful engineering tool.
LO2: Plan and perform a simulation project following a structured recognized project methodology for simulation of production flows.
LO3: Create a simulation model representing a complex production system using a professional DES software package and established modeling techniques.
LO4: Describe and apply techniques for input data management.
LO5: Plan, design, and perform experiments to improve a production system based on a DES model.
LO6: Evaluate various production improvement possibilities using a DES model and knowledge in production systems.
LO7: Describe and exemplify how DES studies can support increased sustainability of production systems.
LO8: Interpret and relate to state-of-the-art knowledge acquired from scientific papers.
LO9: Communicate and argue for the results of a production simulation study, for example using quantitative data, own analysis and judgments, and model graphics.

Lab Session

Supervision for the lab session is queued through this link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12T7kdEtOWyS2mtyleEz4TB7ipqTi8iJDdzkukTF3dJQ/edit?usp=sharing

Enter your group number, describe your general problem, and briefly describe the solution after the problem is solved so that other students with a similar problem will know what to try.

Examination

Passed exercises, project report including computer model code, presentation, and a written “knowledge test” (quiz) cover all areas in the course. The grading scale is Failed, 3, 4 and 5.

Students must be approved on all assessment tasks individually (project, laboratory exercises, knowledge test, and presentation) to pass the course.

The result of the project is of outstanding importance for grading. The result from the written “knowledge test”, which is mandatory, will serve as decision support in borderline cases. The performance on the oral presentation that summarize project results to industrial stakeholders is also considered for borderline grades.