Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation

Why Simulate Industrial Plants, Warehouses & Sites?

While leveraging advanced simulation technologies and techniques is well-established during product design and verification, many industrial organizations today still do not employ this powerful methodology in the next stage of their value chain: manufacturing. As a result, these enterprises lose the opportunity to study and optimize the behavior of their infrastructure, processes and systems before they are deployed. Since commissioning of new manufacturing facilities, production lines and processes is often costly and capital-intensive, leveraging Plant Simulation Modeling can yield enormous benefits.

Before making any changes on the actual production floor, we can leverage advanced simulation technologies and techniques to model our manufacturing plant and layout. There are two main reasons why we would want to build a virtual twin of a facility and run simulations against it:

1. First, to better understand how a production plant is currently performing. A facility may be running, but due to the complexities of the processes, number of variables and constraints in the system, it is very difficult to comprehend all the moving parts. How can you determine true capacity, identify bottlenecks and generate reliable key performance indicators? Running a simulation of a plant allows you to discover these crucial factors and identify existing issues as well opportunities to increase throughput.
2. Second, to run “what-if” scenarios and optimization analyses. These scenarios allow us to make virtual changes to a plant in terms of layout and workflows, then evaluate those changes. Due to the time, effort and costs involved in making real-world changes, it is critical that the changes being made are correct for the facility and will meet the desired outcome. This is much faster, cheaper and easier to do virtually using simulation.

About Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation

Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation is an advanced simulation technology platform from Siemens Digital Industries that helps industrial organizations create digital models of their plants and warehouses, explore system characteristics and optimize their operational and business performance. The digital model created not only enables users to run experiments and study what-if scenarios without disturbing an existing production system, but it can be used in the planning process long before the real system is installed. Extensive analysis tools, statistics and charts let users further evaluate different manufacturing scenarios and make fast, reliable decisions in the early stages of production planning. Engineering Industries eXcellence's world-class Simulation & Decision Science practice leverages the Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation portfolio to help industrial organizations across all sectors:

• Simulate, visualize, analyze and optimize production systems and logistics processes
• Detect and eliminate problems that otherwise would require cost and time-consuming corrective measures during production ramp-up
• Minimize the investment cost of production lines without jeopardizing required output
• Maximize the performance and energy usage of existing production systems by taking measures that have been verified in a simulation environment prior to implementation
• Optimize material flow, resource utilization and logistics for all levels of plant planning

1. Modeling Complex Manufacturing Processes:

Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation enable companies to create well-structured, hierarchical models of production facilities, lines and processes. This is achieved through powerful object-oriented architecture and modeling capabilities that allow users to create and maintain highly-complex systems, including advanced control mechanisms.

• The intuitive, context-sensitive ribbon menu user interface of Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation follows Microsoft Windows standards, making it easy to get familiar and productive quickly.
• Simulation models can be created quickly by using components from application object libraries dedicated to specific business processes, such as assembly or automotive body manufacturing processes.
• Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation users can choose from pre-defined resources, order lists, operation plans and control rules.
• Extending the library with company-specific objects allows for the capture of best-practice engineering experiences for advanced simulation studies.
• Complex and detailed simulations can be handled, understood and maintained much better than in conventional tools by using Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation's architectural advantages such as capsulation, inheritance and hierarchy.

2. Simulating Processes & Analyzing System Performance:

Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation models enables companies to optimize throughput, identify costly bottlenecks and minimize work-in-process on the shop floor.

• Simulation models take into consideration internal and external supply chains, production resources and business processes, allowing users to analyze the impact of different production variations.
• Statistical analysis tools, graphs and charts display the utilization of buffers, machines and personnel.
• Advanced statistics and charts can be generated to support dynamic analysis of performance parameters, including line workload, breakdowns, idle and repair time, as well as other relevant key performance indicators.

3. Accessing Enhanced Model Visualization Capabilities:

In addition to the highly efficient 2D model view produced by Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation, models can be visualized in an advanced 3D virtual environment using out-of-the-box libraries and/or user-specific Computer-Aided Design (CAD) data. The result is impressive 3D virtual models that are synchronized at all times with their 2D counterparts, giving manufacturers the flexibility to choose the appropriate method of visualization without compromising simulation and analysis needs.

• Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation supports the JT data format for 3D modeling, an International Standards Organization (ISO) standard.
• Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation is in line with the Siemens Digital Industries direct technology model, which enables efficient loading and realistic visualization of large 3D simulation models.

Target Industrial Sectors

• Aerospace and defense manufacturing
• Shipbuilding and marine manufacturing
• Automotive and heavy machinery
• Discrete and industrial piece-part manufacturing
• Water, energy and utilities
• Oil and gas industry
• Pharmaceuticals and life sciences manufacturing
• Medical device manufacturing
• Consumer packaged goods and retail manufacturing
• Food, beverage and tobacco manufacturing
• Electronics, semiconductors and battery manufacturing
• Agribusiness and chemical industry

Features of Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation

• Object-oriented, hierarchical simulation based on dedicated object libraries for fast, efficient modeling of discrete and continuous processes
• Graphical outputs for analysis of throughput, resource utilization, automatic bottleneck detection, Sankey diagrams and Gantt charts
• Energy analysis tools for calculating and optimizing energy usage
• 3D online visualization and animation based on the ISO standard JT format
• Integrated neural networks for experiment handling and automated system optimization via genetic algorithms
• Open system architecture supporting multiple interfaces and integration capacities (ActiveX, CAD, Oracle SQL, ODBC, XML, Socket, OPC, etc.)

Benefits of Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation

• Improve productivity of existing facilities
• Reduce investment in planning of new facilities
• Reduce inventory and throughput time
• Optimize system dimensions, such as buffer sizes
• Lower investment risks through early proof of concept
• Maximize use of manufacturing resources

Engineering's Expertise

Engineering Industries eXcellence specializes in applying simulation methods to product design, manufacturing and supply chain processes. Our consultants help organizations identify opportunities in order to strategically employ simulation to study their processes and systems, giving teams the information and tools needed to drive real improvements. We are also a global strategic partner of Siemens Digital Industries, particularly experienced in the implementation of their end-to-end digital manufacturing and industrial simulation portfolios. As a certified reseller, solution provider and system integrator with Siemens Digital Industries across several business units and solution offerings, Engineering Industries eXcellence is the only technology partner in the world with the industry expertise, technical skillsets and vision needed to deliver integrated Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation solutions for business success.

Interested in speaking to one of our experts? Contact us at info@indx.com.