THE ARENA DIFFERENCE “Flowchart style modeling makes it

If all simulation packages are the same, why do more much easier to pass the model to your
simulation professionals overwhelmingly choose Arena? colleagues; there are significant
differences between the learning curve
when a model is passed for
ARENA FLOW CHARTING METHODOLGY modifications required by someone
who did NOT build the model.”
There is a fundamental difference in the modeling approach –Senior Consultant
between Arena and the majority of other simulation packages.
Arena uses a flowchart based modeling (FBM) methodology “The exact control of Resources
compared to an animation based modeling (ABM) paradigm. through the use of the individual
Everything you model in Arena will take advantage of the easy to Seize, Delay, and Release blocks
learn flowchart modules. Most other commercial simulation allows for a more detailed and realistic
products will focus on animating the model. When it comes to control of these resources in
complex systems they will require programming in proprietary manufacturing processes. This was
scripting languages. Arena uses the easy to use flow chart difficult to do in < competitor product
modeling paradigm and is robust enough to model any system to name removed>. Students have been
any level of complexity. Some ABM packages tout they are „object able to easily apply the software and
oriented‟, but they still focus primarily on process layout and use Arena to complete industry
animation rather than process flow. They provide a simple set of projects. In the past, with <specific
modeling objects and require users to reprogram these objects in competitor product name removed>,
order to model their processes. Arena users will focus on student industry projects have been
documenting the process rather than animating it. difficult to develop, simply due to the
complexity of manufacturing systems
Another important distinction - with ABM, logic is buried under and < competitor product name
objects, behind the scenes. In Arena, you can always track your removed> difficulty in actually setting
entity as it flows through your logic, one block at a time. In ABM the model up with this complexity in
tools you cannot see your entities moving through line of codes. In mind. It appears the flowchart
Arena you can have all your logic in the same window; not hidden modeling abilities allows students
behind objects. better flexibility in dealing with these
complex systems.”
The conclusion is clear, the flowchart approach to model building –University Professor
makes the most sense to engineers and to process designers who
must be able to carefully document a process in order to “Seize Delay Release is what I missed
accurately model it and analyze it. This results in models that the most when I was using
become highly detailed documents of the processes being studied. <competitor name removed>. To do
Arena's flowchart based modeling methodology makes Arena: the equivalent of seizing 2 different
Easier to learn than other simulation tools resources at a different time in a
Easier to share and communicate complex sequence in <competitor name
models with others removed>, you need to code a
Easier to validate, verify, and debug “coordinated task sequence” with C++
code, which is painful and very hard to
debug. I spent more time debugging
Ease of use translates to rapid model development. Be cautious than programming in my project.”
with the hidden costs associated with development time when -Simulation Professional when forced
evaluating tools! to use a competitor product at a new
company
ARENA TECHNOLOGY FEATURES

ARENA RUNTIME Unlimited runtime privileges within your organization for easy model
sharing and “what-if” simulation analysis. Unlimited runtime
packages are provided in most of our commercial packages.

IMPORT VISIO Translate any Visio shape into an Arena module. Leverage the
FLOWCHARTS process documentation already done in Visio.

ODBC DATA Import and export data from/to any ODBC data file. File types
COMPATIBILITY include: Excel, Access, XML, text, Sequential, LOTUS, and Active X
Data Object (ADO).

CUSTOMIZE Import AutoCAD drawings and objects, clipart, pictures, video clips,
ANIMATION etc can be imported for convincing 2d animation. More than 5,000
intricate animation objects are included in Arena's animation library.
Custom animation can also be created.

VUSUAL BASIC Unlike other tools that use proprietary scripting languages, Arena
INTEGRATION uses a standard VBA editor (included) and the Arena object model
to build custom user interfaces. All Arena functions can be
automated with Visual Basic Programming. Arena can integrate with
any application that can also communicate with VBA for increased
flexibility.

GENERAL PURPOSE Any process you can describe can be modeled in Arena, including
DES MODELING customer service, finance, order & fulfillment, billing, logistics, etc.
When surveyed, 100% of our customers list Arena‟s flexibility as a
significant reason for their purchase.

SIMAN SIMULATION The SIMAN simulation language is the engine in Arena. Arena is a
LANGUAGE ENGINE language-based simulation tool, it's not a simulator that has 'canned'
or prescribed functionality. Having a simulation language as its
engine makes Arena models run extremely fast and makes it
possible for you to model any complex process that can be
described. SIMAN was the predecessor to Arena and was the
world's first PC-based simulation language when it was introduced
in 1982.
OUR REPUTATION

Over 25 years leading the simulation industry. Arena has been on the market for almost three
decades! Many other simulation vendors have come and gone out of business during this time. Other
simulation companies have consolidated with former competitors as the simulation industry has shaken out
the fringe players. Arena is a product of Rockwell Automation; a $4.3 billion dollar company with over
20,000 employees worldwide. No other simulation vendor has withstood the test of time and triumphed like
Arena has. We are committed to being simulation professional’s tool of choice and promise exciting new
innovations in the next decade!

Extensive user base. With 350,000 users world-wide and growing, Arena advice and support is easy to
find. Arena is supported by academic as well as commercial users. Our users are passionate about the
Arena simulation work they do and we make it a point to connect users worldwide, so whether you are a
new to Arena or a long time user, we encourage you to connect with our community via Linked in and
facebook.

Taught in most universities that offer Industrial Engineering / Systems Engineering degrees. Arena
is taught in most universities around the world
that offer these degrees as well as in many
business schools. Each year, more than
30,000 students who have studied Arena are
graduated from these schools.

Reference Material. We are proud to say that

Arena continues to be the most well-
documented simulation software package on
the market! Whether you are a university
professor, a student or a commercial Arena
customer, the texts below are excellent
resources for teaching and to further develop
your modeling skills and simulation knowledge.
Simulation With Arena (Kelton, Sadowski,
Swets)
Applied Simulation Modeling (Seila, Ceric,
Tadikamalla)
Simulation Modeling and Analysis with
Arena (Altiok, Melamed)
Process Analysis and Improvements
(Seppanen, Kumar, Chandra)
Simulation Modeling and Arena (Rossetti)
Healthcare Operations: Quantitative
Methods for Quality and Performance
Improvement (McLaughlin)
Dynamic Capacity Management for
Healthcare (Story)

ARENA COMPARISON STATEMENT

Still not convinced that Arena is the right package for your team? It is not easy to compare packages when
every vendor claims the same thing...make your work easier, improve your productivity, save you money.
But how can you decide what really sets one product apart from all the rest?

Empirical Evidence.

Look at the evidence shown in the pages of the proceedings of the world’s leading conference on discrete-
event simulation—the Winter Simulation Conference (www.wintersim.org). If you were to search for the
number of papers that reference the various simulation packages, here’s what you’d find:

Arena was used for projects more than the 2nd, 3rd 4th and 5th next packages combined!

Those numbers are quite revealing. If the other high-end packages were as good as Arena, wouldn't you
expect roughly the same number of simulation professionals to submit technical papers referencing each of
these packages at the world's leading simulation venue? The numbers aren't even close!

It's hard to find reliable, feature-by-feature comparisons of all the simulation packages on the market. Yet
when you look at the empirical evidence, it's easy to see what the world body of simulation users thinks
about the various tools out there. Clearly, Arena is the undisputed tool of choice among serious users of
business process simulation. It's not the least expensive package on the market, nor is it the most
expensive; it's simply the best.
"I thought the speakers were great!
Interesting and thought provoking." THE ARENA TEAM
-ArenaSphere 2010 Attendee
We can‟t be modest when it comes to our team! You will not find a
more dedicated or passionate group than our team. With primary
"ArenaSphere 2010 was the most operations in the US and over 23 partners worldwide our team works
educational conference I have hard every day to bring the best simulation software package to the
attended in my 15 years in the market. Did you know in May we held an ArenaSphere conference in
simulation industry." Las Vegas, gathering users from around the globe? We promise
-ArenaSphere 2010 Attendee ArenaSphere 2012 to be even bigger and better and hope to meet you
there!

"Outstanding event! The

conference highlighted both
applications and methodologies to
effectively utilize the tool in a wide
variety of domains. It highlighted
the range and depth that is
possible with the tool to "ordinary"
users."
-ArenaSphere 2010 Attendee