Advanced Simulation Model of Shipyard Production Logistics to Optimize Material Flow and Energy Efficiency

Abstract

In this era of industrial digitalization, the shipbuilding industry is adopting digital manufacturing and production planning systems. At shipyards, there is a significant potential to utilize modern tools for simulating production processes to enhance productivity and reduce energy consumption. The primary challenge is to simulate the material flow using modern production simulation tools to perform the testing of realistic operational scenarios for optimizing the material flow for higher productivity, energy-efficient operations, and accurate resource allocation in complex shipbuilding processes. The ongoing research is focused on production planning and transport management for existing shipyards, but there is a necessity to provide simulation-based decision support for engineers that would help in enhancing operational productivity without compromising environmental sustainability. In this thesis, the SimPlan initial simulation model is enhanced into an advanced simulation model using SIEMENS Plant Simulation Software. For this, the initial model of SimPlan's fictional shipyard was evaluated to identify layout inefficiencies for improved systematic layout. Based on the operational requirements, the production logistics were planned in a simulation model. Later, the Eco-Meter was integrated for energy consumption measurements that were analysed by STS Eco-Monitor Tool. Practically, it is difficult to maintain a balance between economically efficient and environmentally sustainable material flow processes. The economic efficiency focuses on minimizing operational costs and maximizing productivity, while the environmental sustainability emphasizes on minimizing energy consumption. So, this thesis provides a novel solution by proposing a methodology for a techno-ecological optimization process for production logistics in shipyards. This advanced simulation model provides a methodology for engineers and managers to perform a multi-objective optimization to optimize the material flow for energy-efficient production logistics in a real shipyard by simulating the dynamic material flow for efficient transporter scheduling, energy monitoring, and accurate resource allocation. The advanced simulation model was tested based on empirical and fictional input values to validate its accurate working by calculating the transportation distance, travel time, energy consumption, estimating operational cost, and estimating CO2 emissions caused by production logistics. By using the real input data from an existing real shipyard, it would enhance the ability of engineers to understand and evaluate the interdependencies between material transport, energy efficiency, and production scheduling. So, this thesis provides a fundamental and strong foundation for industrial digitalization in shipbuilding, such as predictive optimization in digital twin technology, with a promising future potential to achieve sustainable operational excellence in shipyards.