Abstract
House building has moved indoors, into factories that mass produce flooring, walls, and roofs in dry and controlled environments. Since projects differ, and sections of the same house differ, the production system follows a mass customization philosophy, trying to make one-of-a-kind products efficiently. However, producing different products with different processing requirements and times in the same production line presents challenges, such as waiting time at the different stations in the line. The challenge is to obtain a balance between the different stations, considering variations between the products such as size, type of facade, number of windows and doors, etc. This study focuses on the production line for exterior walls at a company manufacturing house elements. Our findings show how the use of simulation with an optimization function improved the throughput by 8.8% by adjusting the sequence of the products.