Introduction
Setting up a new manufacturing plant is always an act of balancing between ambition and precision. For one of India’s leading tyre manufacturers, the stakes were even higher. With a growing market demanding high product variety in low volumes, the client was faced with the challenge of planning for efficient production without incurring excessive costs. The core of the challenge lay in managing the TBM (Tire Building Machines) and TCM (Tire Curing Machines)—especially since the molds used in TCM machines are costly and frequent changeovers would be both time-consuming and expensive.
The company turned to Production Modeling India (PMI) to validate its proposed setup, define smart operational rules, and develop a robust simulation that would simplify production scheduling and planning for the new plant.
Client’s Challenge
• Minimize mold changeover times, which were proving to be a significant bottleneck
• Validate layout feasibility while ensuring that equipment capacity aligned with production goals
• Simplify planning logic for smoother day-to-day operations.
Optimizing Production Planning through Simulation: A Tyre Manufacturing Plant Case Study
PMI’s Simulation Approach
PMI used Simul8 to create a digital twin of the proposed plant. Key steps included:
- Modeling the TBM and TCM setups based on actual process data
- Quantifying lead time, buffer size requirements, and equipment utilization.
- Introducing a modular planning concept, where tyres were grouped into families by size and simulated independently for planning flexibility.
- Testing multiple planning logics, particularly constant flow logic and trigger-based logic, to compare stability and output.
Key Findings & Recommendations
Through simulation, PMI provided critical insights:
• Under traditional logic, production stability suffered due to frequent product mix changes.
• The trigger-based logic improved responsiveness but led to underutilization during low-volume orders.
• A hybrid approach, coupled with modular scheduling, proved ideal for managing batch sizes efficiently.
PMI recommended the optimum number of TBM and TCM machines required to meet production targets while maintaining operational simplicity. This enabled the client to proceed with capital investments confidently, with clear guidelines for future production planning.
Conclusion
By combining deep industry knowledge with advanced simulation, PMI helped the client lay the foundation for a flexible, cost-efficient, and scalable tyre plant—ready to meet the future, one tread at a time.
