Synergy of Process and Production Planning by Discrete Simulation in Manufacturing Cosic, Milcic, Pirovic [ Synergy of Process and Production Planning by Discrete Simulation in Manufacturing Predrag Cosic 1 * , Diana Milcic 2 , Davor Pirovic 3 * Corresponding author: Tel.: (385) 1 61 68 340; Fax: (385) 1 6157 123; E-mail: predrag.cosic@fsb.hr 1 FSB, Department of Industrial Engineering University of Zagreb, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia 2 Faculty of Graphical Arts University of Zagreb, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia 3 FSB, Department of Industrial Engineering University or Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia ABSTRACT The survival and growth of businesses in today's market is based on constant innovation and new product development. Business innovation must take place at all levels, from products, processes to the organization itself, in order to bring about improvements in competitiveness and business efficiency. Furthermore, the number of different components of many products, and, consequently, the demands for the appropriate manufacturing processes and operations, have also increased manifold. We can respond to such demands and manage the appropriate tools to simulate the activities and processes within the factory in the virtual world. The simulation of the entire flow of materials, including all significant activities of production, storage and transportation are key requirements for quality production planning and the necessary manufacturing processes. Discrete simulations, i.e. the applications used for running this type of simulation provide the possibility of creating different scenarios concerning cases of different production parameters, the burden of production capacities, as well as their delays and failures. A further step in the development of the simulation model is the creation of a genetic algorithm for the purpose of minimizing costs and delivery times of products. 1. INTRODUCTION Faster innovation processes and increase in number of new products developed and successfully placed on the market presents a great challenge for most companies. The main reason is their traditionally serial, distributed, manual guidance of the process whereby the most frequent product is unnecessary paperwork. The result of this kind of business is slow NPDI (New Product Development and Introduction), expensive and inflexible processes which without visualization become difficult to manage and control. The solution to this problem is shown in the form of creating digital production as a tool of PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) business approach. Thanks to its capability to link all information about products and processes of the organization, PLM systems can significantly reduce the activity that adds no value and create a foundation for the collaboration of all departments within the organization in real time using all the necessary information about the product throughout its lifecycle [1]. 2. PLM AS INTEGRATED APPROACH TO PRODUCTION As an effective solution for connecting human resources, business processes and systems, product information and services is new business approach called PLM (Product Lifecycle Management). This approach enables collaborative creation, management, expansion and use of product information throughout the enterprise from initial concept to product disposal [1]. PLM is defined as a strategic business approach for effective management and use of corporate intellectual assets. PLM systems meet the need of connecting all the resources and information that arise during the lifecycle of the product [2]. PLM is a business approach that uses different business solutions to connect, create, manage, distribute and use the product information throughout the enterprise [3]. This solution supports integration of people, processes, business systems, tools, methods, technologies and data. One of the tools of PLM systems are simulations and creation of digital production which is faster and cheaper way to plan production process. With the simulation of production and generation of all processes, digital production offers