Simulation of JIT performance in a printing shop

Abstract

A medium sized UK based academic publisher own a subsidiary printing business. Presently, Academic Printers (AP) is experiencing production line flow problems reducing the efficiency of the operation. Most of the problems are generated by the imbalanced workflow through the system. By implementing a JIT production planning system it is hoped that some of the production problems can be resolved. Using the simulation software a model was created to investigate the performance of the AP under a variety of operating conditions. Results showed that operating the system with JIT control would not produce economic performance improvements due to constraints applied by the printing process.