Simulation-based planning and evaluation of personnel scheduling in knowledge-intensive production systems

Abstract

Personnel scheduling provides manufacturing companies the link between personnel and production planning. Scheduling has a significant influence on the development of employee competencies. In knowledge-intensive production systems, this results in substantial impact on the flexibility and productivity of the production. Nevertheless, in industrial practice the employee competence and production planning are considered largely separate. The considered assembly line of a manufacturer of domestic appliances consists of extensive manual operations. In such a production system the employees have a strong and dynamic impact on productivity and flexibility of the production system due to learning effects. For this reason, it is necessary to know the impact of the employee competence on the production targets to enable a high accuracy of production planning. Therefore, a concept will be shown to describe learning and forgetting processes of production employees. These processes and productivity impacts are validated in collaboration with the manufacturer of domestic appliances. An experimental simulation model of the assembly line is created and the relevant learning and forgetting events are integrated for planning and evaluation of employee competencies. Using the simulation model it will be shown how targeted development of competencies influences production flexibility and costs.