The Many Benefits of PLM Plant Simulation Software
Siemens Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation is a valuable PLM software tool for engineers working at a manufacturing facility and for engineers building or modifying manufacturing machinery.
Blog post by Terrance Brinkley
Siemens Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation is software from Siemens which creates a “digital twin” of an entire facility. Every aspect of the facility is included in the simulation model – from automatic machines and manual workstations to conveyors, part buffers, and storage. Once the plant is created in Plant Simulation, the software can be used to generate reports and information on almost every aspect of production, including throughput, uptime vs. downtime, worker utilization, and more. In addition to viewing data models of the existing facility, one of the biggest benefits of using Plant Simulation is experimenting with how facility changes can affect production.
Making changes to the production process in the facility can be very time consuming and very expensive. For example, if a machine is getting relocated, production must be stopped while the machine is powered down, disassembled, relocated, reassembled, and debugged on startup. This requires the time and energy of multiple plant personnel. Plus, the machine will not be producing parts during this process. After this large investment, how can facility engineers be sure the change was worth it? Using Plant Simulation, facility layouts can be modified and simulated in the software before devoting resources to changing the facility. Plant Simulation can be used to examine the various effects of costly changes before an investment is spent.
If a machine builder is selling a new machine to a production facility, Plant Simulation can be used to demonstrate how the customer’s production rates will be improved by purchasing their product. Plant Simulation can be used to virtually insert a new machine into the existing facility, then model the output and other production numbers.
These examples are just a few ways that Siemens Tecnomatix® Plant Simulation is a valuable tool for anyone in modern manufacturing facilities.
