Virtual Reality Simulation of a Mechanical Assembly Production Line

Published

August 1, 2002

Author(s)

Deogratias Kibira, Charles R. McLean

Abstract

This paper presents our work on the application of virtual reality simulation to the design of a production line for a mechanically assembled product. The development of this simulation was undertaken as a part of the Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD. The major research problem is the partitioning and analysis of the assembly operation of the prototype product into different tasks and allocation of these tasks to different assembly workstations. Issues such as cycle times, buffer storage between stations and assembly line balancing complicate the problem. While this paper presents simulation as an application tool to design the assembly line, it also demonstrates the difficulties of using simulation modeling as far as concurrent graphical simulation of assembly operations and discrete event analysis of a production process in the same model is concerned. It also points out the need to speed up modeling process and reduce the level of effort required in the construction of simulation model.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference

Conference Location

San Diego, CA, USA

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

Assembly Line Balancing, Discrete Event Simulation, Factory Design, Virtual Reality

Citation

Kibira, D. and McLean, C. (2002), Virtual Reality Simulation of a Mechanical Assembly Production Line, Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=821800 (Accessed October 18, 2025)