Evaluación y automatización del proceso de producción de café para la optimización de indicadores clave de desempeño mediante simulación computacional

Abstract

Abstract: This study develops and evaluates a digital transformation solution applied to the coffee dosing and packaging process through computational simulation and technologies associated with Industry 4.0. The proposed solution integrates three-dimensional simulation of the production system using Factory I/O, programmable logic control implemented in CODESYS under the IEC 61131-3 standard, industrial communication through the OPC UA protocol, and monitoring of operational variables through dashboards developed in Node-RED. Additionally, process simulation is performed using FlexSim to analyze system behavior under different operating configurations and to compare the performance of the manual scenario with the automated scenario. Based on this integrated architecture, key performance indicators such as cycle time, throughput, resource utilization, and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) were evaluated. The results obtained in Factory I/O showed an approximate production rate of 900 bags/h, equivalent to 75% of the theoretical capacity established at 1200 bags/h. In FlexSim, the automated scenario achieved a throughput of 1199.88 bags/h compared with 84.69 bags/h for the manual scenario, representing a production rate approximately 14.2 times higher. Over the 16-hour simulation horizon, cumulative production reached 19,198 units for the automated scenario and 1,355 units for the manual scenario. These results demonstrate the effect of industrial automation on reducing processing times and improving the production capacity of the process, showing that the integration of simulation, industrial control, and digital instrumentation constitutes a viable strategy for optimizing production processes in the coffee industry.