Case Study: Indesit optimizes conveyor control rules with SIMUL8

Indesit successfully implements a new manufacturing conveyor system using SIMUL8

Indesit, a leading European manufacturer of major domestic appliances based in Fabriano, Italy, needed a better way to manage a complex product mix on a cooker manufacturing line. The existing process relied on operators manually allocating products from 8 assembly lines into a 14-lane sortation area, and getting lane assignments wrong or changing them too late could create bottlenecks, production losses, and extra work. Indesit used SIMUL8 simulation software to design and test the control rules for a new conveyor-based allocation system before installation.

SIMUL8 helped Indesit simulate the real factory environment using live barcode data and connect the model to Visual Basic and lane allocation software via COM, allowing the team to test multiple routing rules and identify the best automated setup. The result was a validated solution that improved throughput, better managed the complex product mix, and gave the team confidence the system would work before deployment. SIMUL8 also improved understanding of the full process, supported management buy-in, and was later used for training and ongoing “what-if” analysis.

Indesit

Martyn Hogg

Systems Engineer