Simulation based production support system in the field of steel construction for large offshore structures

Commonly, the employment of material flow simulation tools in the steelwork industry is limited to the tactical mid-term and strategical long-term planning tasks. This paper describes an approach how the simulations strengths can be adapted to contribute to short-term planning. By executing iterative simulation runs based on real-time production data automatic planning guidance is generated. This procedure lowers the reaction time and improves the overall planning quality because of steadily updated base data generated by a real-time capable interface. It is shown how historical data is utilized to enhance the data input for future planning tasks using machine learning algorithms.