Simulation Model for the Optimization of Preparation Times in a Metalworking Industry Using Single Minute Exchange of Dies

This article addresses the problem of matrix changes in a metalworking industry; due to the requirement to fulfill the customer’s production orders on time, planning is unsustainable, thus causing delays in deliveries, low production, too much waste and loss of credibility with the customer. In the production process of kitchens, the sausage process is the one that generates more time, which leads to higher cost overruns and a lower productivity index, the methodologies applied as SMED “Single Minute Exchange of Die” are efficient, but they lack to adapt them to a multiformat change process, that is why a programming model was designed using the FlexSim software taking as a starting model the process with the initial times and obtaining a final one where it was possible to minimize costs in the same way a greater control of stock and an increase in the production of kitchens due to the reduction of preparation times was obtained; the study was validated in a kitchen factory where the kitchen with the highest demand was chosen, obtaining results with a reduction of 48.5% of the Setup, making it more productive times and a growth in the production of kitchens of 33.8% could be evidenced.