Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

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The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC (CHP) had a unique and once-in-a-career problem; how to move 152 children the two and a half miles to its new state-of-the-art facility in a single day, without sacrificing patient safety and without breaking the budget. This was not just a simple matter of shuttling ambulances back and forth. While the problem is simple to describe, there were deceptively complex logistical challenges to address, including the coordination of over 250 staff members, 35 ambulances and scores of specialized, shared pieces of medical equipment. Even elevators had to be considered in the final analysis.

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Pharmaceutical Order Processing

Caremark PCS (Formerly Advanced PCS)

The pharmacy benefits group for Caremark looked to simulation to help improve customer service and reduce turnaround time on prescription orders.

Orders arrive to the central processing location in Scottsdale, AZ via telephone, fax, internet, and mail. Each order can then proceed through one of hundreds of possible paths depending on the type of order, the source, if it is a refill or new prescription, and other random factors. Each path will contain anywhere from 4 to15 steps. At each step the order must be processed, and delays may occur. 

The sheer volume and complexity of the orders made capacity planning and staffing very difficult. Simulation has helped reduce order turnaround time, improve staff utilization, and reduce costs.

Blending and Packaging Challenges

Unilever (Wish-bone and Lawry's)

Over the course of a long partnership with Unilever's in-house industrial engineers, NovaSim has developed multiple discrete event simulation models to help optimize production performance. 

Project Objectives

• Determine whether the ingredient preparation system could keep up with increased production, while considering the handling of Kosher ingredients
• Create efficient production schedules to meet demand while minimizing losses due to changeovers and equipment availability contraints
• Manage dedicated equipment while simultaneously meeting all product demands
• Coordinate the batch production and the complex system of ingredient scales with fork lift delivery, pumps, mixers, and packaging lines

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Creamy or Crunchy?

Unilever (Skippy Peanut Butter)

The Skippy family of peanut butter includes six different products that are packaged in more than 50 different products for sale around the world. NovaSim worked with Unilever's industrial engineering team to develop a SIMUL8 discrete event simulaiton model that was used to optimize overall production performance for the Skippy brand. 

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Batch Production

Unilever (Best Foods Mayonnaise)

We have all seen recipes for mayonnaise. The ingredients are very simple: eggs, vegetable oil, maybe some lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper. If you set your mind to it, it would be a simple matter to make up a batch in your kitchen. But what if you needed to make more than 1 million pounds per day? NovaSim developed a discrete event simulation model in SIMUL8 to help Best Foods do just that. 

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