Project Details

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Production System Simulation and Layout Optimization for Walk-In Cooler Manufacturing

Company: TMP Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Major(s):
Primary: IE
Secondary: ME

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

Tafco is a long-established U.S. manufacturer of walk-in coolers, freezers, and modular insulated panels serving commercial, industrial, government, and pharmaceutical customers. Our primary facility for this project is located in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, approximately 50 miles (about a one-hour drive) from State College. As demand increases, we are investing in improved production planning and factory optimization to ensure that our metal shop and foaming operations can reliably support growth. This project will help us better understand how our processes perform today and what changes could unlock higher throughput, lower product damage, and more consistent delivery. Students will study the end-to-end manufacturing flow, from metal fabrication through foaming, by conducting multiple onsite observations and collecting accurate timing and process data. Using this information, the team will identify and select an appropriate simulation tool (likely SIMO or a comparable package) that can handle a large number of variables and support complex system modeling. This capability is essential, as a previous team encountered constraints with a tool that could not model the full system. The resulting simulation should reveal the ideal production rate for the metal shop, determine the optimal number of foaming fixtures needed to meet capacity targets, and show how to minimize work-in-process inventory to reduce part damage. A key outcome of the project is the ability to communicate results clearly to a wide audience. The team’s analysis should lead to recommendations for an improved factory layout, including any adjustments to fixture orientation or material flow, supported by updated drawings. Equally important, the final simulation outputs and visuals should be easy for non-technical stakeholder (such as foremen and floor managers) to understand and use when evaluating proposed changes.