Virtual production planning of a high-speed train using a discrete event simulation based approach

This paper deals with an application of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) within the manufacturing process of a high-speed train. Today, the use of a DES tool is common for supporting engineers in designing the production lines and planning the production, representing a valid help in what-if analyses and in the measurement or validation of a solution. In this research activity, differently from the common use, it has been developed a DES model whose function is not to measure and/or validate a solution of a problem, but to generate a solution that will be nearly to the optimum. This paper describes DES tools, the methodology used in this work, the model built, the case-study and the obtained results.