Improving Printing Process Efficiency by Identifying and Mitigating Production Delays through System Modelling and Simulation at Berhanena Selam Printing Enterprise
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Date
2025-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In the competitive printing industry, operational efficiency is crucial to staying ahead. Efficient operations minimize downtime, reduce waste, and improve resource utilization, which directly impacts profitability and customer satisfaction. Operational efficiency also enables companies to be more agile and responsive to market changes, ultimately giving them a competitive edge in an industry where margins can be tight and customer expectations are high. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness of Berhanena Selam Printing Enterprise for the 2023/24 period, standing at 14.84%, indicates room for significant improvement in operational efficiency. In light of this evidence, it is crucial to propose a research agenda focused on identifying and mitigating production delays through system modeling and simulation approaches to improving operational efficiency.
This study adopts a quantitative approach to enhance operational efficiency by analyzing job order processing data through system modeling and simulation. The study investigates the operational efficiency of the wave-offset and offset machines in a printing process by identifying key factors contributing to production delays: operating speed, machine failures, setup time, and make-ready time. Using ARENA software for simulation and analysis, various improvement scenarios were evaluated. Increasing machine capacity to 90% of design speed, reducing machine failure and repair times by half, and cutting setup and make-ready times by half were proposed as strategies to enhance efficiency. These actions resulted in improved Overall Equipment Effectiveness by 4.62% for the wave-offset machine and 28.73% for the offset machine, respectively.
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System Modeling and Simulation, Production delays, improving production efficiency.