Surge Study -Packaging line integration

**mahesh5277** · 09-29-2014, 06:55 AM

Hello,

Need help to build an excel sheet to perform a surge study (may be simulation?).

Brief:
We have 2 new packaging machines to be introduced on our manual packaging line ( detergent liquid packing line; process is- liquid filling in bottles). The operation of filling, capping , labeling happens auto & currently the packing of bottles in cases happen manually. we need to install automatic case packer to pack the bottles in cases automatically ( robotic picker & placer). Also, to supply empty formed cases, we need an case former. so total 2 new machines will be integrated on existing line.
I am in the process of designing the layout for the same. My concern area is: i need to determine whether the spacing between these two machines (case packer & case former) is sufficient enough to enable the process to run smoothly. i.e. the case former should be ready with empties all the times & feed the case packer with required empty cases as per line speed.
The line speed is 300 bottles/min & in each case we pack diff matrix, 6*2, 6*3,5*4 depending upon SKU variety.
The speed of case packer is 30 cases/min & it packs 3 cases (in a slug) at a time. The speed of case former is 55 cases/min. The length of conveyor which joins case former & case packer is 6 meters.
Can somebody help me to build a probability based excel spreadsheet which would execute the results of enabling uninterrupted supply of empty cases to case packer at all times. I know this needs to be studied on various scenarios like MTTR & MTBF of case packer & case former. The "Mean time to repair" for case packer can be assumed as 120 seconds & for case former as 180 secs. The "Mean time between failure" for case packer can be assumed as 60 mins & for case former as 30 mins. Also, i need to check the integration of automatic case packer . I.e. The length of conveyor which joins the labeler to the case packer is 3 meters. The MTBF & MTTR of labeler can be assumed as 30 mins & 180 secs respectively.

I need to ascertain results on a excel simulation spreadsheet. Can somebody help me please? OR else a simple physics evaluation in excel is okay; if it serves the purpose of validation.
i apologize if am putting this thread at a wrong place, this being my first post on this forum.

Thanks,
Mahesh

**mahesh5277** · 10-02-2014, 03:49 AM

Can somebody help please? Experts in excel simulation...please see

**jubiesxl** · 10-10-2014, 07:41 PM

Hi Mahesh:

Could you post a sample file of your requirements as to the needs and also the final outcome

Thanks

**MrShorty** · 10-10-2014, 08:21 PM

Is your question an Excel question, or is it a more generic kind of question. In other words, do you know how to solve the problem and you need some help getting the desired formulas programmed into Excel, or do you need help understanding the problem in general.

I know next to nothing about this kind of problem, but it reminds of an assembly line balancing discussion/question that came across the forums a few months ago: http://www.excelforum.com/excel-gene...r-help-me.html In my ignorance, your question seems to be a slightly different application of a line balancing problem. Of particular interest in the previous thread is an article by Ragsdale and Brown specifically describing how to perform line balancing problems in a spreadsheet: http://archive.ite.journal.informs.o...RagsdaleBrown/

If you can give us the mathematical formulas you want to use, then we should be able to help you put those formulas in Excel. If you need help understanding how to perform this kind of problem, I would suggest some research into line balancing problems.