Anonymous Major Food Manufacturer (via Burns & McDonnell)

Packaged food manufacturers operate under relentless pressure to maximize line throughput while controlling capital expenditure — a tension that becomes acute when aging infrastructure starts limiting both. For this major producer, legacy packaging equipment had degraded to the point where reliability failures were consistently capping line speed and creating chronic downstream bottlenecks. With consumer demand outpacing what the existing lines could deliver, a significant capital investment in new packaging infrastructure was unavoidable. The challenge was justifying an $18 million commitment without empirical confidence that the proposed changes would produce the required capacity gains — a common failure mode in large-scale capital projects where assumptions go untested until equipment is already installed.

Burns & McDonnell engineers deployed Rockwell Automation's Arena Simulation software to construct a discrete-event simulation model of the facility's packaging operations — effectively a digital twin of the production environment. The model captured machine behavior, line interdependencies, changeover sequences, and equipment failure modes with sufficient fidelity to function as a reliable proxy for the physical plant. Engineers ran iterative scenario analyses across dozens of proposed packaging-line configurations, stress-testing equipment selections and line layouts before any capital was committed. Because the simulation was calibrated against actual plant operating data rather than theoretical benchmarks, it could surface bottlenecks and predict throughput outcomes with high confidence. This virtual-first approach allowed the investment strategy to be optimized analytically, with competing upgrade scenarios evaluated side-by-side without interrupting ongoing production.

The simulation-guided upgrade delivered a 10% increase in production capacity — a substantial gain at enterprise food manufacturing scale where incremental throughput converts directly to revenue. Downtime performance validated the model's predictive accuracy: the upgraded lines achieved an 80% reduction in downtime relative to competitor projections, a result that would have been difficult to forecast without simulation-based analysis. Perhaps most consequentially, the engagement gave leadership the analytical foundation needed to commit to the $18 million capital investment with quantified confidence rather than rule-of-thumb assumptions. The virtual testing approach also preserved throughput during the planning phase — no trial runs on live equipment, no production schedule disruption.

• +10% production capacity post-upgrade
• 80% downtime reduction vs. competitor benchmarks
• $18M capital decision supported by simulation evidence

• Simulation modeling converts capital investment decisions from judgment calls into evidence-based choices — critical when stakes reach eight figures.
• Virtual line testing eliminates the production losses and scheduling complexity of physical trials on live packaging equipment.
• Calibrating the simulation to real plant data, rather than vendor specifications, is what separates useful models from optimistic ones.
• In Food & Beverage, packaging line reliability is a direct throughput constraint — simulation ROI compounds quickly when even a 10% capacity gain is on the table.
• Engaging a specialized engineering firm with simulation expertise shortens the modeling cycle and improves leadership confidence in the outputs.