The Characterization of Constraints and Bottlenecks at a Home Health Operation Using FlexSim Simulation Software

The warehouse that supplies essential home health equipment and essential home health items for Cook Children’s patients and families, needs an operations analysis in order to better understand the constraints and the bottlenecks of the operations that can help optimize delivery of critical supplies. The team used FlexSim Simulation Software to model the operation and used key functions of the software to assess constraints for improvement.

Understand the process for developing a simulation model and learn relevant nomenclature

Acquire knowledge on the use of virtual simulation as a tool for operational analysis for the validation of resource levels

Authors

Mr. Rahim Akbar (BSIE, LSSGB) is a Process Improvement Specialist at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, TX. He has close to 10 years of professional experience in Process Improvement in various industries such as Food Manufacturing, Airline, Aerospace Manufacturing, and Health Care. Rahim has a passion for Industrial Engineering and after having worked at several industries, he has a continuous thirst for knowledge in this particular field. In the future he would like to pursue a PhD in Industrial Engineering along with a LSS Master Black Belt. Prior to starting his role at Cook Children’s Health Care System, Rahim had used 2D simulation on projects and assignments that required stochastic modeling, however, he started using 3D modeling software, more specifically FlexSim at Cook Children’s to simulate clinics and warehouses.

Jun has spent the past 17 years blending a strong academic background with extensive experience in optimization, modeling, simulation, scheduling data analysis and statistical applications to evaluate and analyze the efficiency, utilization, and process improvement opportunities in healthcare facilities.