A simulation-based approach for a solar panel production system

Assembly Line Balancing Problems (ALBP) involve production planning in order to improve an existing assembly process or create a new one. The ultimate goal, in regard to high efficiency is to maximize the facility throughput, in function of time, capital investment, resource utilization, customer demands and material handling. In this paper, an approach for balancing a Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) solar panel assembly line is proposed, using Discrete Event Simulation (DES). It aims to develop a more efficient CPV solar panel assembly line, which will allow the manufacturing facility to meet the demand, while reducing congestion between workstations within the production process. Several possible scenarios are developed for the deterministic case. These scenarios are then used as benchmarks for their corresponding stochastic scenarios analyzed by a simulation model, considering changing demands and different production capacity. With this proposed approach, the decision maker will be able to select the best assembly line in order to satisfy customers' demand while using time and resources required efficiently.