Designing a production line for howitzer projectiles

Abstract

As real budgets have become increasingly austere, the Department of Defense has recently begun to rely on simulation as a planning tool. In some cases simulation has become mandatory before significant projects are undertaken. This was the case in the modernization of a production line for howitzer pro jectiles in the Midwest. Simulation proved worth while in this project. Although there was initial resistance to the burdensome data-collection effort, simulation gained increased credibility with the con tracted engineering design team. It provided great insights into the requirements of this queuing net work during the initial phases of the design. Later, after initial development and verification, the model was used to explore a variety of design contingencies.