Environmental aspects in manufacturing system modelling and simulation—State of the art and research perspectives

Abstract

The efficient and effective usage of energy and resources is of rising importance in manufacturing companies. This paper argues that manufacturing system simulation is a promising way to realistically cope with those issues and simultaneously consider them with traditional target dimensions. Against this background, the paper analyses whether commercial simulation tools are already capable to address those aspects. It turns out that environmentally related aspects are currently not sufficiently considered as standard functions. Therefore, based on the analysis of on-going research work, different directions for further development are presented and discussed.

Introduction

Research on energy has gained momentum in recent decade. The interest in energy has been driven in part by the volatility in oil prices and by the increased interest on climate change related effects. There are plenty of studies into improving the efficiency of traditional sources of energy, establishing new sources of energy and improving the technologies used to harness renewable energy [1], [2]. In manufacturing, energy management is also becoming a key area of research as manufacturers seek to mitigate the risks of fluctuating energy prices and the ever increasing number of legislation on carbon emissions [3].

Traditionally resources like material and labour are the main considerations in production planning and control; now it is essential to incorporate sustainable metrics [4], such as environmental impact of production. In this context, energy use is being one of the main contributors to climate change and in some companies being a significant cost factor, there is a need for a better understanding of the energy usage within a production facility. Modelling the energy consumption of processes can provide a better understanding of where and how efficiently the energy is being used which can then highlight areas for further optimisation. The need for such understanding is increasingly reflected in the current research and tools [5], [35].

In manufacturing planning and control resources are utilised and allocated as efficiently as possible whilst meeting customer demands. Optimisation models are often used to provide decision support. Discrete event simulation (DES) is typically used to create these optimisation models, which simulate flows of material and products through a production system with cost and time being the focus of optimisation. To investigate the applicability of these software for modelling and simulation of environmental aspects (e.g. energy consumption), a survey of 9 commonly used DES software has been conducted and the results of the survey have been reported in this paper.

This paper aims to provide an insight into the functionality of existing DES software with respect to the consideration of environmental impacts of manufacturing and highlights the need for further development of these tools. The paper starts with providing background information on manufacturing simulation, indicating the need and the advantages of using simulation. The second part of the paper then describes the survey conducted and presents the findings. The latter part of the paper introduces existing environmentally oriented simulation approaches; a few of these are described in more detail. To wrap up the paper, the discussion and conclusion summarises current status within simulation of environmental and energy aspects of production and outlines strengths, weaknesses as well as future challenges.