Unilever (Best Foods Mayonnaise)
We have all seen recipes for mayonnaise. The ingredients are very simple: eggs, vegetable oil, maybe some lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper. If you set your mind to it, it would be a simple matter to make up a batch in your kitchen. But what if you needed to make more than 1 million pounds per day? NovaSim developed a discrete event simulation model in SIMUL8 to help Best Foods do just that.
Challenges
- Finding a way for the ingredient preparation system to keep up with increased production
- Creating efficient production schedules to meet demand while minimizing losses due to changeovers
- Managing dedicated equipment while trying to meet all product demands including package sizes ranging from 8 onces to 2000 pound totes
Simulation Elements
- Dozens of products made from many different recipes
- Kanban production methodology
- Managing several ingredients
- Daily production schedules with changeover and cleaning requirements
- Batch mixing operations feeding surge tanks connected to packaging lines