Simulation at B. Braun

Simulation at B. Braun: Factory planning "Docs" from LOGSOL bring the threads together. (Copyright: LOGSOL GmbH)

B. Braun is one of the world's leading companies in medical technology. Founded in 1839 in Melsungen, the company develops intelligent solutions and sets pioneering standards for progress in inpatient and outpatient healthcare. With over 5,000 products and a growing focus on digital technologies, B. Braun supports hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, care facilities, and patients. The company also employs new technologies in dialysis production at its three Dresden locations in Radeberg, Berggießhübel, and Wilsdruff. The plant in Wilsdruff, commissioned in 2018, consolidates all process steps necessary for the production of a dialyzer under one roof and is additionally networked within a production consortium. Several million dialyzers in various versions are produced here annually. "We are now at 56 variants, which makes production planning significantly more complex," says Ralf Aurich, head of factory systems at B. Braun Avitum Saxonia. "This is because Wilsdruff has taken on a second basic product; in addition, there are different filter sizes, regulatory requirements, and sterilization procedures."

Testing various scenarios dynamically

An economic analysis should evaluate, based on different scenarios, under what conditions the factory output could be doubled. "Where are bottlenecks, where do we need to adjust, acquire additional equipment, and how do we control production to achieve the maximum possible output?" Aurich wanted to know. Due to the many influencing factors, a conventional spreadsheet was not a solution. A dynamic simulation with product changes and subsequent adjustability could not be managed internally either.

To bring all threads together, Aurich turned to the factory planning "Docs" at LOGSOL, with whom he had already worked very well on an initial project. The factory systems manager emphasized the importance of "being able to meet quickly" — which was easily achievable for the "Docs" from Dresden and Chemnitz.

For the variety of variants, B. Braun wanted to derive rules for production control from the simulation project. After a joint workshop, LOGSOL was able to accurately assess the complexity. During the analysis phase, Markus Störzel, Professional Logistics and Factory Planner at LOGSOL, visited the factory in Wilsdruff. He found it "very impressive" when he was allowed into the automated production in the cleanroom wearing protective clothing. "For us, data collection as the basis for the simulation was essential," he says. The factory figures were continually clustered from rough to detailed approaches until different product variants with varying demand quantities could be examined to determine the overall performance of the Wilsdruff plant.

More than 1,200 lines of program code

During this process, the factory planning "Docs" scrutinized material flow and machine count, considering, among other things, supply processes for small filter sizes from the Berggießhübel plant. They wanted to know in detail which parameters influence productivity. Example: "Feed rate": the speed at which the spinning machine produces fibers affects cycle times for subsequent machines where fibers are wound into bundles. Investigating product mixes, buffers, higher spinning machine feed rates, and other scenarios involved enormous effort: "Our heads were smoking because we had to test all combinations," says Störzel. For the simulation model, the expert created more than 1,200 lines of program code with two colleagues.

LOGSOL delivered the simulation as "Pack-and-Go": "We provided the data basis so that B. Braun can calculate its business cases," says Störzel. Based on the detailed, practical results, the medical technology company evaluates various scenarios regarding profitability and investments. The insights are to be integrated into an APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) tool for production planning, "to ultimately operate the factory as efficiently as possible," Aurich explains. In the future, B. Braun will also rely on LOGSOL's expertise, for example, in planning intralogistics.