Using Discrete Event Simulation For Planning Improvement In Small Batch Size Manufacturing System

The article presents the case study research in planned changes in the manufacturing system of a small company in the furniture sector. The main purpose is to show a systematic approach to determining in which areas of the manufacturing system and what kind of changes will enable the company's business goals to be achieved. A procedure for planning changes in the manufacturing system was developed and used in the conducted research. The assessment of the potential effects was conducted by means of the model of the manufacturing system developed in the Tecnomatix Plant Simulation programme. Thanks to it, it was possible to test the proposed variants of changes in the form of computer simulations. This allows to confront the expected profits with time, financial resources and risk. Linking the expected effects of changes to the business analysis enables us to rationally manage the development of the manufacturing system in different time frames. In the context of manufacturing system development the issue of sustainable production was also considered.