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Evaluating a Business Model for Retrofitting Autonomous Vehicles using Simul8

Company: Minitab, LLC

Major(s):
Primary: IE

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: YES

Autonomous vehicles are often based on standard human-driven models, but they require additional sensing and computing hardware to operate. Installing this hardware on the main production line can be disruptive and costly. Instead, many autonomous vehicle manufacturers use a retrofitting approach where human-driven vehicles are produced on the main line, and the vehicle is later converted into an autonomous vehicle at a secondary facility. An automotive SME were considering investing in a specialist vehicle-retrofitting facility and has appointed your team as engineering consultants to assess whether the proposed business model is operationally and financially viable. The company will only proceed with the investment if the facility can generate more than $1 million in profit during its first six months of operation. Customer Pricing Model Customers will be charged: - $3,000 when their vehicle is retrofitted and returned within 100 working hours - $1,500 when the retrofit takes longer than 100 working hours This pricing model means that the facility must balance customer demand, processing capacity, staffing, equipment utilisation and turnaround time to maximise profitability. Details of the proposed facility layout, process flow, staffing levels and processing data are provided as part of this ask. Your Challenge Using Simul8, your team will: 1. Develop a simulation of the proposed retrofitting facility. 2. Evaluate the performance of the current operating model. 3. Identify bottlenecks, delays and underutilized resources. 4. Assess whether the facility can achieve the required profit target within six months. 5. Investigate alternative staffing, resource, layout or process-flow options. 6. Recommend a more efficient and profitable operating approach. 7. Present your findings and use the simulation to demonstrate the impact of your recommendations to the business stakeholders Your final recommendation should clearly explain whether the proposed business is viable and what changes would be required to improve its operational performance and financial return. This project is based on a real- world project that the Simul8 Consultants delivered and presented the outcome. Note: This project is well suited to Industrial Engineers that have completed or are concurrently enrolled in IE 453 (Simulation Modeling for Decision Support) or have other prior experience with discrete event simulation.