Optimising material flow through virtual prototyping: a discrete-event simulation approach

The escalating demand for enhanced process efficiency and production adaptability in the manufacturing sector has catalysed the adoption of virtual prototyping and discrete-event simulation (DES) for optimising material flow prior to physical implementation. This paper delineates a simulationcentric methodology developed to analyse and improve the architecture of a beverage packaging line. The constructed virtual prototype accurately mirrors the entire production system, encompassing depalletising, filling, packaging, palletising, and wrapping, thereby serving as a digital testbed for evaluating various optimisation scenarios. A series of experiments was conducted to diagnose and investigate various optimisation scenarios based on cycle-time reduction, buffer expansion, and parallel machine configurations on overall system throughput. Findings reveal that a moderate enhancement at the bottleneck station—specifically, a 10% reduction in Modulfiller cycle time—resulted in a 7% increase in output. Conversely, excessive local acceleration or attempts to speed up downstream processes led to diminishing returns. These results underscore the efficacy of DES-based virtual prototyping in facilitating low-risk evaluations of process improvement strategies and establishing a robust framework for future Digital Twin integration.