Did you miss the Plant Simulation Worldwide User Conference or need a reminder about what happened?
Here is what happened…
Maurice Schrooten of ASML stated that the use of Plant Simulation for both system design and production process design helps ASML to predict throughput and optimize production sequences.Visualization and analysis with simulation results in a 40% increase in throughput per square meter of area with lower production costs and decreased variation.For as many as 20, 3 week to 6 month projects yearly, the potential benefits to ASML are more than €1M per project.
Dirk Steinhauer of Flensburger Shipyard presented Simulation Toolkit Shipbuilding (STS) and Simulation Aided Production Planning (SAPP), based on Plant Simulation.The use of dedicated tools and libraries for transport control, crane usage, space allocation, 3D animation, and the like, in conjunction with core Plant Simulation capabilities provide Flensburger with the environment necessary for the early verification and improvement of program plans for their varied and complex projects while effectively evaluating strategies for getting back on plan when reacting to the regular disturbances that are typical in their daily work.
Tiago Vacaro of Endusol Eisennman posed the question “How can computer simulation help in the decision making for modifications of the production process?”In answering, he stated that Plant Simulation increased confidence in the decisions being made, that 64% savings in resources required were achieved and that necessary investment was reduced from €1.87M to €0.67M.Eventually, this all leads to an end result of 18% increase in capacity with a need to make only 2 out 6 potential identified modifications.
These are just some of the great messages delivered by Plant Simulation users at the conference.Below, you find a summary of the entire conference and you can have a look at the Knowledge Base for additional content from the event, including videos and presentations.Of course, as always, you are encouraged to participate in the ongoing community discussion.
Event Summary
Over the 3 day event, users from 37 companies and institutions representing 17 countries from academic, government and 7 different industry segments were treated to 24 sessions.More than 30 of the participants were able to attend a fantastic plant tour hosted by Daimler AG.
Day 1 – Site Visit to Daimler Sindelfingen
More than 30 early attendees were treated to a site visit and plant tour by long-time customer and Plant Simulation user, Daimler AG, at the Sindelfingen plant where 9 different Mercedes-Benz models are produced.The group was treated to a world-class tour of the body shop, stamping hall and final assembly areas of the facility.To Daniel Adis and the entire team at Daimler we would like to say, Vielen Dank!
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Day 2 – Conference Sessions Commence
After a warm German welcome and conference kickoff by Matthias Heinicke of Siemens PLM Software, the sessions began in earnest, with Jürgen Köhler, Siemens AG; Georg Piepenbrock, Siemens PLM; Jacob Ruda, Volvo Cars; Maurice Schrooten, ASML; Sebastiano Ferraris, SIM.TEC.; Tiago Vacara, Endosul Eisenmann; Harry Kestenbaum, SimPlan; Thomas Strigl, iSILOG; Alexander Piunov, WEST-RU; Zsolt Molnar, graphIT; Steffen Bangsow, advanced simulation services; Dirk Steinhauer, Flensburger Shipyard; Botond Kádár, Fraunhofer Project Center; János Jόsvai, Szechenyi Istvan University; Gert Nomden, cards PLM Solutions.
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Day 3 – Conference Sessions Continue
The final day of the conference was dedicated mostly to Siemens PLM Software and its partners for presentation of new features and modeling techniques in Plant Simulation with sessions by Ralph Bauknecht, Siemens PLM Software; Auke Nieuwenhuis, cards PLM Solutions; Peter-Michael Schmidt, Siemens PLM Software; Georg Piepenbrock, Siemens PLM Software, Matthias Heinicke, Siemens PLM Software; Peter Komarek and Angela Roesch, Siemens PLM Software.
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The conference was concluded with an open questions and answers session with the Siemens PLM Software Plant Simulation management team, including Uli Rossgoderer, Georg Piepenbrock, Ralf Tobel, Ran Livnat and Matthias Heinicke.
Now that some time has passed, I have had an opportunity to reflect on my journey to Deutschland for participation in the Plant Simulation 2014 Worldwide User Conference. I always knew that the Plant Simulation user community was well connected and engaged in Germany and that they have been gathering as a group on an annual basis for many years. However, it really takes on a whole new meaning when you are there in person and are able to see how well engaged they really are! This user conference was a first in that Siemens PLM Software hosted and executed an exclusively English language event with worldwide participation. Typically, these user conferences have been German language events only and the Plant Simulation team at Siemens PLM Software took on the challenge of gathering a truly international crowd to share their discrete event simulation experiences in a common language that would allow users from all over the world to join together for learning, networking, German hospitality and little bit of fun.
Although we use Plant Simulation to take the magic out of production planning, throughput assessment, logistics and the like, we can all still appreciate a little bit of magic in our lives.This is why the magic show that was offered as part of the evening dinner event on Day 2 of the conference was so much fun and well received by all of the attendees.
It is certainly fair to say that we here at Siemens PLM Software are quite proud of our products and what they are able to do, but nothing makes us more proud than to see the successful usage of those tools by our dedicated users on a daily basis and to have them attend events where they are willing to share those experiences with equally as much pride.To you, the users and attendees of the Plant Simulation Worldwide User Conference, I tip my hat and warmly say, Thank You Very Much!
Yours in Simulation,
Mike Rouman
(On behalf of the entire Plant Simulation Product Team)
