Tuesday
Oct062009
Small Project, Big Results
Dynacraft
As consultants we often are faced with large complex projects that span weeks or months. However, simulation also has great benefit on smaller projects. Although this simulation was started and completed within a single day it still has proven to privide significant value to Dynacraft, a subidiary of Paccar Inc.
Capacity PlanningTuesday
Oct062009
Setup Time Reduction
Flexfab
In an effort to reduce setup times on key extrusion equipment and balance thier product mix of high volume products and low volume specialty products, Flexfab of Hasting, Michigan looked to SIMUL8 and NovaSim for a solution.
Tuesday
Oct062009
Surgical Scheduling
Hunter New England Area Health Service
Hunter New England Area Health Service is a large governmental health services organization in New South Wales, Australia. Serving approximately 850,000 people, the HNEAHS includes 3 teriary hospitals, 4 rural referral hospitals, 12 district hospitals and 10 community hospitals. NovaSim, working together with PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia, developed a comprehensive simulation model to help manage surgical block management and overall waitlist management for two of the largest facilities in the region. Used to solve a variety of what-if questions when it was first developed, the model remains in consistent use several years later as an ongoing wait list management tool.
Thursday
Oct012009
Simulating the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center
Johns Hopkins Medical Institute
The number of chronic disease cases is growing at phenomenal rates as our general population ages. End-stage diseases of all the major organs: heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas ultimately rely on transplantation as the only means remaining to return a patient to reasonable health.
Because of this growth in demand, the line of patients waiting to receive organ transplants is seemingly endless. Aside from the fact that there are not enough organs being donated to meet this need, the transplant community's next biggest problem is having sufficient resources to meet the increasing demand.
Wednesday
Sep302009
Reducing Cycle Times: Evaluating the American Red Cross' Blood Donor Testing Process
American Red Cross
In the United States, someone needs blood approximately every two seconds. With the American Red Cross providing 50% of this supply, this translates to 6.9 million samples being tested each year. In 1991, the American Red Cross consolidated its network of 53 original Red Cross testing laboratories into nine state-of-the-art facilities. Implementation of standardized operating procedures, training and equipment at the nine National Testing Laboratories (NTLs) improved quality control, facilitated the adoption of new technology, and maximized sample flow and flexibility. Currently, ninety-five percent of all blood is tested within 15 hours from the time the blood samples are received by the NTL; 99 percent of all blood is tested within 24-hours. In an effort to both improve on this high service standard and lower costs, the National Testing and Reference Laboratory Headquarters looked to simulation as a potential tool.
