Drawing up master plan for customer in food production

For a client in the food production sector in the Utrecht region, Dapp helped to draw up, oversee and develop a master plan for a long period of time. The client in question asked Dapp to help after the factory had become logistically bogged down in several areas. This manifested itself in an automatic conveyor belt that became jammed because the belt could no longer handle the pallets that were delivered, an overcrowded outside area with items that should actually be inside, and a full external storage area. The collaboration involved thinking along in a critical multi-year master plan that had to remedy these problems. Over a period of several months, Dapp was regularly on-site to take stock of, study, verify and discuss matters with the client. This 'data' was used, as it were, to solve logistical problems in several areas, namely:

• A simulation of the stalled conveyor allowed some options to be reliably worked out to bring the conveyor capacity up to date with current and future production. Applying a simulation made it easy to study different alternatives to directly test the effect of adjustments. The simulation is reliable because it can be tested against the current situation. This simulation has led to a relatively small-scale solution that provides both current and future production with sufficient capacity.
• An onsite study and a data analysis, combined with the experience of Dapp and the client, led to a brainstorm of ideas to solve the logistical problems on site, but also in the factory. These brainstorming options were substantiated and visually developed by Dapp and presented to the client's core team. Together, a few options were selected to be worked out in greater detail. Some of the options are being further elaborated to date and should be implemented to ease the client's logistics.

In addition to the above components, Dapp also supported the client in creating 2D and 3D visualizations, analyzing and presenting data and acting as a sparring partner.