Van Vuuren's Results
How artificial intelligence can optimize a planning.
With the production of doors, there is always the ambition to reach the optimal planning to run the process as smooth as possible. But errors and unforeseen interruptions in the production can stand in the way of an optimal output.
To discover which value Artificial Intelligence can have in the production process, Van Vuuren and Nimble started working together. How can AI be applied with the following goals: maximal production output, efficiency, and fast response time on errors.
The planning of the production of doors is complex because of the high variety in products. With this mix an optimal planning should be created so the process is running efficient and as less as possible production time gets lost. Based on 2 chosen KPIs (temporal difference; time between finishing orders and throughput time of an order) the optimal planning can be reached by shifting the focus to the desired situation.
The AI-bot is the reason of signaling faster when the WIP (work in progress) reaches its maximum. The planner enters the expected downtime, and the AI-bot is calculating a new optimum. The interrupted machine will be bypassed for the expected downtime. The flow in the production process will keep going and the output maximized. The genetic algorithm will be used as optimalization technique, and the AI-bot is applying this on the data Van Vuuren is delivering in the form of orders. The first step is to import the data, followed by testing rapidly many diverse combinations of orders and sequences. All combinations get a rating, and the highest rating is the optimum. The AI-bot is generically furnished so it can be applied when the new production line “De Kameleon” is used.
Besides the more efficient planning, there is a fast response to production interruptions. Furthermore, there is real-time insight in the planning and planners can look more forward than before using the AI-bot. By using the bot wishes and demands for continuous improvement will keep coming and the AI-bot will be optimized by the good cooperation between Van Vuuren and Nimble.
