ProModel 83

User Guide

View Menu options you can check or uncheck to turn on or

off.
The View menu provides options for modifying
the model editing environment. These options are
defaults, used each time the program is started
and are not specific to any particular model. The
View menu consists of three categories:
Switches, Settings, and Commands. Each of
these categories is explained in the following sec- Snap to Grid Check this switch to cause any
tions. object subsequently drawn or placed on the lay-
out to be positioned on the nearest grid line. Snap
to grid snaps the upper left corner of a graphic.
Show Grid Check this switch to show the grid in
the layout window.
Show Layout Coordinates Displays cursor’s
the coordinates in the upper-left-hand side of the
layout window.
Show Hidden Networks Check this switch to
show the invisible path networks during editing.
A path network can be made to be invisible by
selecting the “invisible” option for the particular
network while in the Path Networks editor.
Show Routing Paths Causes routing paths to be
visible during run time as well as edit time. If the
option is not checked, the routing paths are visi-
How to access the View menu: ble only while in the processing editor.

• Select View from the menu bar. Toolbars

Allows you to toggle the various ProModel tool-
bars on and off. See “Toolbars” on page 92 for
Switches more infomation on each toolbar.

The following selections are available from the

switches section of the View menu. Switches are Settings
The following table defines each of the selections
available from the settings section of the View
84 Chapter 4:
View Menu

menu. These selections and their submenus are the submenu shown here. If the Views dialog
discussed in more detail on the following pages. appears, skip step 3.

3. Click Define from the extended menu and

the Views dialog appears.
Views Allows you to define, then quickly and
easily access specific areas of the model layout.
Once the view is defined, you can select it while
editing or running the simulation.
Zoom to Fit Layout Shrinks or enlarges the lay-
out to include the entire model.
Zoom Allows you to shrink or enlarge the lay-
out by the percentage selected.

Views
The Views feature allows you to define, then
quickly and easily access specific areas of the
model layout. Selecting a view scrolls the layout
window and adjusts the zoom so you see a spe- 4. With the Views dialog open, select the
cific region of the layout regardless of the layout area in the layout window you want to define
as a view using the scroll bars and zoom fea-
window’s size. Once a view is defined, you can
ture in the View menu. Or size the layout win-
select it while editing or running the simulation
dow to the desired view.
by selecting the view from the View menu or by
using the keyboard shortcut. 5. With the layout window set, type a name
for your view in the View Name field at the
bottom of the Views dialog, and then click
Defining & Selecting Views the Add button to define the view you have
selected in the current layout window.
How to define a view: 6. The name you have entered will appear in
your list of views.
1. At edit time, select the View menu.
2. Select the Views item. If no defined views
exist, the Views dialog is displayed and not
Please note

Views cannot be defined at run time.

 ProModel 85
User Guide

How to select a view from the Move Up Moves the currently highlighted
menu: view up one position in the list creating a corre-
sponding change to the menu and CTRL+ n
order.
1. At edit time or run time, select the View
menu. Move Down Moves the currently highlighted
2. Select the Views menu item to display the view down one position in the list creating a cor-
submenu list. responding change to the menu and CTRL+ n
order.
Rename Renames the currently selected view
to the name you have typed into the View Name
field.
Set View Sets the highlighted name in the View
3. Click on the desired view from the sub- list to the portion of the model currently visible in
menu. the Layout window.
View Name This is the field where you type
the name of the view you wish to add.
How to select a view with shortcut Show View Checking this box will cause your
key CTRL + n: views to be displayed in the Layout window as
you select them in the list.
• Press CTRL + n to select the desired view
where n is the number (1-9) of its position in Using Views at Run-time
the view list (e.g., pressing CTRL + 1 would
access Single Screen Zoom from the view list When the simulation is running, you may choose
above and CTRL + 3 would access the Wait- the active view by picking its name from the
ing Time Zoom view). Views beyond nine will Views menu or the Views Panel.
not have a CTRL + n shortcut key.
The Views menu is accessible during run-time
from either the Menu Bar’s Option menu or the
Right-Click menu.
Managing Your Views The Views menu will display a list of your
When you click on Define from the Views menu, defined views. There is also an option to open the
the Views dialog is displayed. It lists the defined Views Panel.
views in the Views List and provides buttons for
adding views, removing views, and managing the
list. The function of each button is described
next.
Add Adds the view, which you have named in
the View Name field, to the list of views.
Remove Deletes the currently highlighted
view from the View List.
86 Chapter 4:
View Menu

The Views Panel is a dialog window with a list of 2. Choose any preset zoom level, or the Cus-
your defined views. tom Zoom option.

Preset Zoom Levels

The Views Panel may be moved or resized, and

will remain on top of the simulation window until
the Panel is closed. Please note
Simply click on the name of a view in the Panel
to switch to that view. The minimum and maximum zoom levels are cal-
culated automatically depending on the total size
of the layout at 100% zoom.
Referencing a View in Model
Logic
Once a view has been defined, it may be refer-
enced in the model using the VIEW statement Layout Settings
(e.g., VIEW “Service Office”). This is useful for
The following selections are available from the
illustrating certain parts of the model at specific
Settings section of the View menu.
times during run-time. For syntax and examples,
see “View” on page 576.

Zoom Feature
The Layout Settings submenu contains selections
The Zoom feature allows you to shrink or enlarge for changing the grid characteristics, color of the
the layout by the percentage selected. layout window background, and the routing
arrow colors. These, as well as default setting
How to zoom in or out on the lay- changes, apply to any currently loaded model. To
out: change any of these items for the current model
only, use the options provided in the General
1. Select Zoom from the View menu. Information dialog. The routing path color can be
changed for the current model only by selecting
the Path Options button in the Processing mod-
ule.
 ProModel 87
User Guide

The following table defines each of the selections Please note

available from the Layout Settings submenu.
You may save the grid settings for the model by
checking the Save as default grid settings check
box.

Grid Settings Provides options to control the

amount of space between grid lines. It also pro-
vides the option to define the grid units in terms
of distance and time per grid unit.
Background Color Allows the user to change
the background color in the layout window.
Routing Path Color Provides the option to
change the routing color used in processing logic.

Please note

Changes to these settings are saved as the default

settings.

Grid Size
By using the grid dialog box, you may set the res-
olution of the grid lines to your preference.

How to change the colors and

resolution of the grid lines:

1. Select Layout Settings from the View menu.

2. Select Grid Settings from the Layout Set-
tings submenu.
3. Select the Ones or Tens option button.
4. Select the desired color.
5. Use the scroll bar to adjust the resolution.
88 Chapter 4:
View Menu

Please note Please note

To change the color of the grid lines, select the The “Recalculate path lengths when adjusted”
Ones button and choose a color. To change the option applies to path networks, conveyors, and
color of every tenth grid line, select the Tens but- queues. For details regarding recalculation of
ton and choose a color. times and distances when editing path segments,
see “Path Networks” on page 123.

Grid Scale
In addition to setting the resolution of the grid
Background Color
lines, you may also associate a time and distance The Background Color option allows the user to
value to each grid unit. This is extremely useful change the background color in the layout win-
when you are creating conveyors, queues, or path dow.
networks to scale and you want the time or dis-
tance between nodes to be based on the number How to set the background color
of grid units between the nodes.
of the layout:

1. Select Layout Settings from the View menu.

2. Select Background Color from the Layout
Settings submenu.
3. Select the desired color.
4. Click OK.

How to set the default time and

distance per grid unit:

1. Select Layout Settings from the View menu.

2. Select Grid Settings from the Layout Set-
tings submenu.
3. Select the Scale button from the Grid Dia-
log.
4. Enter the desired time and distance per
grid unit. Custom Colors
ProModel allows you to create up to 16 custom
colors for use anywhere a color selection is avail-
able. Entity, location, and resource icons, as well
 ProModel 89
User Guide

as background graphics, can use any custom How to specify the routing colors:
color defined in the colors menu.
When creating a custom color, the nearest solid 1. Select Routing Path Color from the View
color is shown next to the dithered color for refer- menu.
ence.

How to create a custom color and

add it to the color menu:

1. Select Layout Settings from the View menu.

2. Select Background Color... from the Layout
Settings submenu.
2. Click on the desired routing type, Unse-
3. Move the cursor to the area on the multi-
lected, Selected, or Related from the menu.
color chart closest to the custom color you
desire and click the left mouse button. 3. Select the desired color.
4. Adjust the color by moving the custom
color adjustment slider up or down until the
desired shade is obtained. Alternately, you
can manually adjust any of the color defini-
tion fields (Hue, Sat, Lum, Red, Green, Blue).
5. Select Add to Custom Colors. The color
now appears in one of the 16 custom color
boxes.
4. Click OK.

Routing Path Color

ProModel allows you to select which colors to Routing Path Types
use when showing selected, unselected and Unselected All routing lines not for currently
related routings in the Processing module. This highlighted process record.
helps in visually identifying the origin and desti-
nation of a process routing. Selected Routing line for currently highlighted
routing record.
Related Routing lines for highlighted process
record, except highlighted routing record.
90 Chapter 4:
View Menu

Edit Tables How to change the edit table

background color:
Edit Table Fonts
1. Select Edit Tables from the View menu.
Edit tables are used extensively in ProModel for
2. Select Color from the Edit Tables submenu.
data entry. ProModel allows you to specify the
font used in these tables. 3. Choose the desired color.
4. Click OK.
How to change the edit table font:

1. Select Edit Tables from the View menu.

2. Select Font from the Edit Tables submenu.

Please note

For information on creating custom colors, see

“Background Color” on page 88.

3. Choose the desired font by scrolling

through the Font selection list box.
4. Choose the Font Style. Commands
5. Choose the Font Size. The Commands section of the View menu con-
6. Click OK.
tains various selections for controlling the model-
ing environment.

Edit Table Color

ProModel allows you to specify the table color Refresh Layout Clears and redraws the graphics
used in edit tables. in the layout window.
Reset Window Positions Causes all edit tables
to return to their original positions and sizes.
 ProModel 91
User Guide

Window Menu Help Menu

The Window menu allows you to rearrange win- The ProModel Help menu is a convenient, quick
dows and icons and select the active window. way to look up information about a task you are
These functions are standard to all Windows™ performing, a feature you would like to know
applications. more about, or a command you want to use. Pro-
Model Help is available whenever you see a Help
command button, or Help as an item on a menu
bar.

Tile Causes all open windows to fit in the avail-

able screen space. Windows that may be hidden
behind other windows become visible.
The selections from the Help Menu are as fol-
Cascade Causes all open windows to overlap lows:
such that the title bar of each window is visible.
Index Brings up the Main Help Index.
Arrange Icons Causes all icons representing
iconized applications to be arranged neatly along Context Opens the help system to the topic
the bottom of the screen. related to the currently active window.
ProModel Support on the Web When you
Please note select this option from the help menu, ProModel
automatically connects you with the ProModel
Below Arrange Icons is a list of the open win- customer service page on the PROMODEL web
dows. The window with the check next to it is the site.
active window. About ProModel Displays a message contain-
ing information about the product.

How to reset the windows to their

default positions:

• Choose Reset Window Positions from the

View menu.
92 Chapter 4:
Toolbars

Toolbars selecting the “invisible” option for the particular

network while in the Path Networks editor.
The ProModel toolbars provides quick access to
Show Routing Paths Causes routing paths to be
many of the options found in the menu bar.
visible during run time as well as edit time. If the
The toolbar space may contain up to nine tool- option is not checked, the routing paths are visi-
bars, which can be be toggled on or off in the ble only while in the processing editor.
View menu. These toolbars are described below.
View
File

Views Allows you to define, then quickly and

New Closes any currently opened model so a easily access specific areas of the model layout.
new model can be built. This command is unnec- Once the view is defined, you can select it while
essary if no other model is open. If the currently editing or running the simulation. See “Views”
opened model has changed, ProModel will ask if on page 84 for more information.
you want to save the model before closing it.
Zoom to Fit Shrinks or enlarges the layout to
Open Opens a user-specified model and clears include the entire model.
previous model data.
Zoom Allows you to shrink or enlarge the lay-
Save Saves an open model under the current out by the percentage selected.
file name. If no file name has been given, you
will be prompted for a file name. Build Basic
Create Package Bundles all files used for a
model into one package. See “Creating a Model
Package” on page 74 for more information.
The options in this toolbar open the respective
Install Package Copies all files in a model build modules. Mouse over a toolbar button to
package to a specified destination directory and see its function and then refer to Chapter 5 for
gives you the option to load the model. See information of that build module.
“Installing a Model Package” on page 75 for
more information. Build Advanced

Layout
The options in this toolbar open the respective
build modules. Mouse over a toolbar button to
Show Grid Check this switch to show the grid see its function and then refer to Chapter 6 for
in the layout window. information of that build module.
Show Hidden Networks Check this switch to
show the invisible path networks during editing.
A path network can be made to be invisible by
 ProModel 93
User Guide

Simulation View Dynamic Plots Allows you to view previ-

ously defined Dynamic Plots. See “Dynamic
Plots” on page 364 for more information.

Simulation Options Opens the simulation

Debug
options dialog. See “Simulation Options” on
page 348 for more information.
Scenarios Opens the scenarios dialog. See
“Scenarios” on page 353 for more information. User Pause by Time Allows you to specify by
clock time when the simulation should pause
Play Begins the simulation next.
Pause Pauses and unpauses the simulation User Pause by Date Allows you to specify by
when it is running. calander date when the simulation should pause
Stop Ends the simulation and prompts you next. This option is not available when you are
whether to collect and view statistics up to the not running the simulation by calandar date.
point where the simulation was stopped. Trace Step Select this option to step through
Animation On/Off Toggles the animation on the trace listing one event at a time. Each time
and off you click the left mouse button, the trace will
advance one event. Clicking and holding the right
View Statistics Opens Output Viewer 3DR. mouse button while in this mode generates a con-
tinuous trace.
Simulation Information Filtered Trace Opens the Filtered Trace dialog.
See “Trace Mode” on page 361 for more infor-
mation.
Location Information Select this option and Debug Opens the Debug dialog. See “Debug
choose a location to view an information box Option” on page 357 for more information.
with real time information about the location.
Information for all locations may also be dis-
Tools
played.
Variable Information Select this option to show
the current state of all real and integer global
variables. Graphic Editor Opens the Graphic Editor. See
“Graphic Editor” on page 312 for more informa-
Array Information Select this option to show tion.
the current value of all cells for arrays of up to
three dimensions. Simrunner Opens Simrunner.

Define Dynamic Plots Allows you to define Stat::Fit Opens Stat::Fit.

Dynamic Plots. See “Dynamic Plots” on 3D Animator Opens 3D Animator.
page 364 for more information.
94 Chapter 4:
Right-Click Menu

Right-Click Menu Views From this option, you may select from
the views defined in the model.
To simplify many of the steps required to per-
Zoom to Fit Layout This option resizes the
form common modeling operations, ProModel
model to fit the entire image in the layout win-
includes a variety of right-click menus. From
dow.
these menus, you can access context-sensitive
options and settings for variables, locations, pro- Zoom Allows you to select the zoom percent-
cessing, path networks, resources, and other com- age.
ponents. The following menu appears when you
Layout Settings From here, you may select and
right-click on the layout.
define the grid settings, background color, and
routing color.
Refresh Layout This option refreshes the image
to reflect recent changes.

Please note

For information about the right-click menus for

model elements (e.g., locations, variables, rout-
ings, resources, path networks, queues, and con-
veyors), see “Building the Model: Advanced
Elements” on page 225.
The right-click layout menu includes the follow-
ing options:
Edit Background Graphic Only when you
have a background graphic defined, this option
appears and lets you edit the graphic.
Snap to Grid Selecting this option snaps all
graphics to the grid.
Show Grid When you select this option, Pro-
Model displays the background grid.
Show Layout Coordinates Displays cursor’s
the coordinates in the upper-left-hand side of the
layout window.
Show Hidden Networks Displays all hidden
networks.
Show Routing Paths Displays all routing paths
used in the model.
 ProModel 95
User Guide

Chapter 5: Building the

Model: General Elements

Build Menu How to access the Build menu:

The Build Menu is the gateway to all modeling
• Select Build from the menu options bar.
elements used to define a model. Through this
menu you specify the locations, entity types,
arrival rates, resources, path networks, down-
times, processing logic, variables, attributes, Each selection from the Build Menu is covered in
arrays, macros, and subroutines that provide the detail in the following sections of this chapter.
flexibility needed to model your system.

Any element represented by a graphic in the lay-

out window can be edited by holding the CTRL
key while clicking on the graphic representing
that element.
96 Chapter 5:
Locations

Locations or...

Locations represent places in the system where

entities are routed for processing, storage, or • Right click on the existing location and
some other activity or decision making. Loca- select Edit.
tions should be used to model elements such as
delivery locations, warehouse locations, network
servers, and transaction processing centers.
Locations Editor
Every location has a name and a name-index
number. The name-index number is the loca- The Locations Editor consists of three windows:
tion’s numerical position in the list of locations. the Location Graphics window in the lower left
Logic which refers to a location, such as routing portion of the screen, the Location edit table
logic, can use either the location's name, or the along the top of the screen, and the Layout win-
LOC() function to refer to the location. The dow in the lower-right portion of the screen.
LOC() function allows a location whose index These windows can be moved and resized using
number has been stored in an attribute or variable the mouse.
to be referenced. See “Loc()” on page 511.
Locations are defined in the Locations Editor,
which is accessed through the Build menu.

Layout Window

Location Graphics Location Edit Table

Window

The Location edit table contains information

about every location in the model, including
characteristics such as capacity and number of
units. The Location Graphics window is a tool
How to create and edit locations box used for creating, editing, and deleting loca-
tions graphically. Locations are positioned in the
• Select Locations from the Build menu. The Layout window.
Locations Editor appears.
 ProModel 97
User Guide

Location Edit Table Please note

A location's characteristics can be modified with
Individual units of a multi-unit location may dif-
the Location edit table. The Location edit table
fer in capacity only if every unit's capacity is
contains fields for displaying the graphic icon,
greater than 1. For example, in a location with
specifying the location name, and defining other
two units, one may have a capacity of 5 and the
characteristics of each location. Each of these
other a capacity of 10. However, one unit may
fields is explained below. You can edit the
not have a capacity of one and the other a capac-
desired field directly in some cases, or by select-
ity of five. (See “Multi-Capacity, Multi-Unit, and
ing a record and clicking the column heading but-
Multiple Locations” on page 106.)
ton of the desired field.

Units The number of units of a location, up to

999. A multi-unit location works like several
locations with common characteristics. (See
“Multi-Capacity, Multi-Unit, and Multiple Loca-
Icon The graphic icon used to represent the tions” on page 106.)
location. Changing location graphics is done
DTs Click on this heading button to define loca-
using the tools in the Location Graphics window.
tion downtimes, including any setup times. (See
If multiple graphics have been used to define a
“Location Downtimes” on page 107.)
location, the first graphic used is shown here.
Clicking on the Icon button brings the graphic for Stats Click on this heading button to specify the
the current location into view if it is not currently level of statistical detail to be gathered for the
showing in the layout window. location. (To view a location's statistics after a
simulation run, choose View statistics from the
Name The name of each location. Names can
Output menu.) Three levels of data collection are
be up to 80 characters in length and must begin
available:
with a letter (for more information on naming
items, see “Names” on page 404). A location's •None No statistics will be collected.
name can be changed by editing this field. The •Basic Only utilization and average time in
Search and Replace is automatically called when location will be collected.
the name is changed. •Time Series Collects basic statistics and
Cap. The capacity of the location refers to the time series tracking the contents of the
number of entities the location can hold or pro- location over time.
cess at any one time. A location's maximum Rules This field defines (1) how a location
capacity is 999999. Entering INF or INFINITE selects the next incoming entity from several that
will set the capacity to the maximum allowable are waiting to enter this location, (2) how multi-
value. If this field contains an expression, it will ple entities at a location queue for output, and (3)
be evaluated at the start of the simulation before which unit of a multi-unit location is selected by
any initialization logic. Accordingly, a location's an incoming entity. (See “Rules Dialog Box” on
capacity will not vary during the simulation run. page 115.) To edit any of this information at a
98 Chapter 5:
Locations

location, click on the heading button to open the Edit Button Displays the Library Graphic Dialog
Location Rules dialog box. Box used to change the color, dimensions, and
orientation of the location graphic.
Notes Enter any optional notes about a location
in this field or click on the heading button to open Erase Button Erases the selected location
a larger Notes window. graphic in the Layout window without deleting
the corresponding record in the Location edit
table.
Location Graphics Window
View Button Brings the selected location in the
The Location Graphics window provides a graph- edit table into view on the Layout window.
ical means for creating locations and changing
their icons.
How to define a new location
graphically:
New Box
1. Check the New Box in the Location Graph-
Counter
ics window.
Gauge/Tank
2. Select a location symbol or icon from the
Conveyor/Queue
Location Graphics window.
Text Label
Status Light 3. Click on the Layout window where you
want the location to appear.
Entity Spot
Region 4. A new record is added automatically to
the Location edit table. You may now
change the default name to the desired
location name.

How to define multiple locations,

Icons added to the layout will either represent a
new location or be added to an existing location's each having the same graphic:
icon depending on whether the New box at the
top left of the window is checked or unchecked. 1. Check the New box inside the Location
Graphic window.

New Mode 2. Select the desired graphic.

3. While holding down the SHIFT key, click on
Allows you to create a new location record each
the Layout window where each location
time you place any location graphic on the lay-
should appear.
out. The new location is given a default name
which may be changed if desired. New mode is
selected by checking the New box [X] at the top
of the Graphic Tools window.
 ProModel 99
User Guide

How to move a location graphic 2. Select Delete [location name].

on the layout:

• Drag the graphic to the desired spot on the How to erase a location graphic:
layout.

1. Select the location graphic to erase.

2. Select the Erase button in the Location
How to move all graphics defined Graphics window or press the <Delete> key.
for a single location: The location graphic disappears, but the
location record still exists in the Location edit
table.
• Drag inside the dashed box surrounding
the graphic (do not drag on an individual or...
graphic inside the box). 1. Right-click on the location graphic in the
layout window.

How to move multiple graphics for

two or more locations at once:

1. Click outside of any graphic and drag to 2. Select Delete Graphic. The location
create a rectangle encompassing all of the graphic disappears, but the location record
graphics to be moved. still exists in the Location edit table.
2. Drag the rectangle to the desired position
on the layout.
How to bring a location graphic
into view that is off the layout:
How to delete a location:
1. Highlight the record of the desired location
1. Select the location record to be deleted in in the Location edit table.
the Location edit table. 2. Select the View button in the Location
2. Select Delete from the Edit menu. Graphics window or click on the icon head-
ing button.
or...
1. Right-click on the location graphic in the
layout window.
100 Chapter 5:
Locations

Add Mode bined with discrete-event simulation to model the

exchange between continuous material and dis-
Allows you to add additional graphics to an exist- crete entities such as when a liquid is placed in
ing location, such as a text label, an entity spot, or containers.
a status light. A location with multiple graphics
will be enclosed by a dashed box. Add mode is Conveyor/Queue A symbol representing a
selected by unchecking the New box [] at the top conveyor or a queue. To create joints in a con-
of the Graphic Tools window. veyor or queue, click on the conveyor or queue
with the right mouse button. Drag the joints to
How to add an icon or symbol to achieve the desired shape. Right click on a joint
to delete it. The options available with conveyors
an existing location: and queues are described next.

1. Uncheck the New Box in the Location Label Any text used to describe a location. The
Graphics window. label is initially synchronized with the name of
the location and changes whenever the location
2. Select a location symbol or icon from the
Location Graphics window. name is changed. The name, size, and color of the
text may be edited by double clicking on the label
3. Click on the Layout window where you or selecting it and clicking on the edit button (see
want the additional icon to appear.
“Text Tool” on page 324). Once the name on a
4. The graphic or symbol is added to the label is edited, it will no longer be automatically
location. changed when the location name is changed.
Status Light A circle that changes color during
the simulation to show the location’s status. For a
Location Graphics single capacity location, the states displayed are
idle/empty, in operation, blocked, down, and in
A location may have any one or more of the fol- setup. For multi-capacity locations, the displayed
lowing graphics selected from the Location states are up (operational) and down (off-shift, on
Graphics window. break, disabled).
Counter A counter representing the current Entity Spot An assignable spot on the layout
number of entities at a location. The options where the entity or entities will appear while at
available with counters are explained next. the location. While an entity is at a location, the
entity’s alignment spot (defined in the Graphic
Gauge A vertical or horizontal sliding bar
editor) will appear exactly on top of the location's
showing the location's current contents during the
entity spot, allowing the two graphics to align
simulation (shown as a percentage of the capac-
exactly as desired. A multi-capacity location will
ity). This graph will be updated constantly as a
use as many entity spots as defined (in the order
simulation runs. The options available with
defined) up to the capacity of the location. Enti-
gauges are explained below.
ties in excess of entity spots will continue to pile
Tank A vertical or horizontal sliding bar show- up on the last entity spot defined.
ing the continuous flow of liquids and other sub-
Region A boundary used to represent a loca-
stances into and out of tanks or similar vessels.
tion's area. A region may be placed in the layout
This continuous modeling capability can be com-
over an imported background such as an
 ProModel 101
User Guide

AutoCAD drawing to represent a machine or

other location. This technique allows elements in 2. A location may include any of the above
the imported background to work as locations. graphics and symbols. However, a location can
have no more than one counter, one gauge, one
Library graphic Any of the graphics appearing
tank, one queue, one status light, or one region.
in the library graphic menu. Use the scroll bar to
view all available graphics. Library graphics may
3. Clicking on a layout graphic with no edit
be created or modified through the Graphic Edi-
table on the screen displays the name of the ele-
tor. The name for the graphic, the default name of
ment (location, etc.) represented by the graphic.
any location created with that graphic, can be
With any edit table showing, hold down the CTRL
saved in the Graphic Editor (see “Naming a
key while clicking on the graphic to display the
Graphic” on page 322).
location name.

How to edit a graphic already on

the layout:
Counter Dialog Box
• Double click on the graphic.
To edit the appearance of a counter, double click
on the counter on the layout, select the counter
or... and click on the Edit button, or right click on the
counter and select edit. The counter dialog box
allows you to choose the appearance of a graphic
1. Select the graphic.
counter that is used to display the contents of a
location. To change the digit color of the counter,
2. Click on the Edit button inside the Location click on the Digit Color button. To change the
Graphics window. counter's background and border, click on the
Frame button. The digit's font size and style may
or... be changed by clicking on the Font button.

1. Right-click on the graphic in the layout.

2. Select Edit Graphic from the menu.

Please note

Location graphics notes:

1. Location graphics are painted on the layout Gauge/Tank Dialog Box

in the order of the location list and, for any given When you create a gauge or tank, ProModel will
location having multiple graphics, in the order prompt you to specify which type you wish to use
that the graphic was added to the layout. before you paste it in the layout. To edit a gauge
102 Chapter 5:
Locations

or tank on the layout, double click on the gauge currently chosen options is shown in the lower-
or tank to display the gauge/tank dialog box, left corner.
select the gauge/tank and click on the Edit button,
or right click on the gauge or tank and select edit
graphic. From the gauge/tank dialog, you may
change a gauge to a tank and define its appear-
ance, orientation, and fill direction. You may also
access this dialog by selecting the gauge or tank
and clicking on the Edit button.

Library Graphic Dialog Box

To change or edit a library graphic that represents
a location, you may double click on the library
graphic on the layout, select the graphic and click
on the Edit button, or right click on the graphic
and select edit.

Text Dialog Box

To edit the appearance of a location label, you
may double-click on the text once it is on the lay-
out, select the text and click on the Edit button, or
right click on the text and select edit. The text is
typed in an edit window with several edit features
available via buttons above the window. The
font, color, alignment, rotation and frame may be
changed from this dialog box. A sample of the

This gives the option to change the icon, orienta-

tion, color, or graphic dimensions of the graphic.
The default dimensions for the graphic, which are
 ProModel 103
User Guide

created in the Graphic Editor, are displayed Queues

above the graphic. To change the dimensions of
the graphic, click on the Dimensions button. This A queue is a location that imitates the progressive
gives you the ability to specify horizontal or ver- movement and queuing of waiting lines. When an
entity enters a queue, ProModel executes any
tical and feet or meters to change the graphic
operation logic for the entity and then moves it to
dimensions.
the end of the queue. To have processing logic
execute after an entity arrives at the end of a
Queue/Conveyor Dialog Box queue, use a MOVE statement in the operation
To control the look and operation of a conveyor logic. A MOVE statement causes the entity to
or a queue, you may double click on the con- move to the end of the queue where any addi-
veyor/queue in the Layout window, select the tional operation logic defined will be processed.
graphic and click on the Edit button, or right click Operation logic following a MOVE statement
on the conveyor/queue and choose edit graphic. actually gets processed after the elapsed time that
The Queue/Conveyor dialog box appears. It also the entity would have reached the very end of the
allows you to specify whether you wish to define queue if no other entities were ahead of it. Fol-
the location as a conveyor or queue. Use the lowing a MOVE statement, any operation state-
scroll bar to set the width of the queue or con- ment is valid except for CREATE, SPLIT AS,
veyor. Select the style by clicking on solid, roller UNGROUP, UNLOAD, or another MOVE state-
(i.e., roller conveyor) or line. Click on the border ment.
color or fill color to change the color of the If a MOVE statement is specified that includes a
queue. If you want the queue to be visible during move time (e.g., MOVE for 5.2 sec), the entity
edit time and invisible during run time, click on speed and length of the queue are ignored. If a
the Invisible During Simulation option. See the move time is not included with the MOVE state-
discussion on conveyors and queues later in this ment, the move time is based on the entity speed
section for more information. and length of the queue (if no queue length or
entity speed is defined, the move time is zero).
Entities in a queue may not be preempted by
other entities and, once entities begin movement
in a queue, are not allowed to pass each other.
After the specified move time, however, entities
continue processing any additional operation and
output logic. A “No Queuing” rule specified for a
queue location allows entities to depart in any
order after completing their move time.
Queues are drawn from the beginning to the end
of the center-line and are assigned a default
length based on the graphic scale. However, the
default queue length may be overridden by enter-
ing a different length. When a queue is modified
graphically, the length will automatically be
recalculated based on the graphic scale unless
104 Chapter 5:
Locations

you checked the “Recalculate path lengths when entity on a conveyor is calculated using the fol-
adjusted” option. You can access this option from lowing formula:
the Tools menu under Options.
Time = (Conveyor Length - Entity Length or
Width)/Conveyor Speed
Conveyors And the percentage utilization is calculated using
A conveyor is a location that simulates the move- this formula:
ment of entities on either an accumulating or non-
accumulating conveyor and appears with a con- ∑ tc
veyor graphic. Entities can only enter a conveyor all Cc
entities
at the beginning and leave at the end. For accu- Util % =
mulating conveyors, if the lead entity is unable to T
exit the conveyor, trailing entities queue up
Where:
behind it. For non-accumulating conveyors, if the
lead entity comes to a stop, the conveyor and all tc = the time the entity spent on the conveyor
other entities stop. Entities on a conveyor may whether moving or not
not be preempted by other entities.
Cc = the conveyor capacity for that entity
The capacity assigned to a conveyor limits the
number of entities that can access a conveyor. T= the total simulation time
However, the cumulative total length or width of
the entities on the conveyor cannot exceed the Please note
conveyor length. In fact, the utilization statistics
for a conveyor reflect the amount of space uti- Unlike queues, MOVE statements for conveyors
lized on the conveyor throughout the simulation, may not include a move time. Processing logic
not the number of entities occupying the con- executed at the end of the conveyor may contain
veyor. Unlike other locations, an entity is not any operation statement except for CREATE,
routed to the conveyor until there is room at the SPLIT AS, UNGROUP, or UNLOAD. Addition-
beginning for the entity to fit, even if the con- ally, the ACCUM, COMBINE, and GROUP
veyor has capacity to hold it. statements are not allowed at the end of non-
ProModel executes operation logic for entities accumulating conveyors.
entering a conveyor as soon as they enter unless
the logic follows a MOVE statement. If no
MOVE statement is encountered, entities begin
their move on the conveyor after processing any Due to the space limitations of a conveyor, cer-
logic. If a MOVE statement is encountered, entity tain operation statements at the beginning of a
movement is initiated. Any logic defined after a conveyor are invalid including ACCUM, COM-
MOVE statement is processed when the entity BINE, CREATE, GROUP, SPLIT AS,
reaches the very end of the conveyor. UNGROUP, and UNLOAD.

Move time on a conveyor is based on the length The default conveyor length is determined by the
and speed of the conveyor, as well as the length graphic scale, although this may be overridden by
or width of the entity. The move time for an entering a different length. When a conveyor is
modified graphically, the length will automati-
 ProModel 105
User Guide

cally be recalculated based on the graphic scale 4. Move the mouse in the desired direction
unless you uncheck the “Recalculate path lengths and click on the right mouse button to end
when adjusted” option. You can access this the conveyor.
option from the Tools menu under Options.

Conveyor Graphics Display

How to create bends in an
When you use conveyors and want the graphics existing conveyor:
to display properly on the conveyor with no over-
lapping and little space between entities, use the
1. Click on the conveyor with the right mouse
following:
button. From the menu that appears, select
Entity Add Joint. A small black square appears on
Orientation the conveyor.
on Conveyor Requirements 2. Using the left mouse button, drag the
Width-wise 1. Entity width on conveyor square in the direction you desire to bend.
should equal horizontal dimen-
sion.
2. Entity length on conveyor
should equal vertical dimension. Conveyor Options Dialog Box
Length-wise 1. Entity width on conveyor The conveyor options dialog box is used to define
should equal vertical dimension.
the specifications for a conveyor. To access the
2. Entity length on conveyor conveyor options dialog box, you may double
should equal horizontal dimen-
sion. click on a conveyor, select the conveyor and click
on the Edit button from the Location Graphics
window, or right-click on the conveyor and select
Conveyor Animation
edit. This opens the Conveyor/Queue dialog box
The animation of entities traveling along convey- from which the Conveyor Options dialog box can
ors is displayed according to the logical length or be opened by clicking on the Conveyor Options
width of the entity, not the scaled length or width button. The Conveyor Options dialog box pre-
of the entity graphic. sents the following options:

How to define a conveyor graphi-

cally:

1. Select the conveyor/queue symbol from

the Location Graphics window.
2. Click on the Layout window with the left
mouse button where the conveyor should
start. Accumulating Select or deselect this option
3. Add bends to the conveyor by moving the depending on whether the conveyor is to be accu-
mouse and clicking the left mouse button. mulating or non-accumulating.
106 Chapter 5:
Locations

Entity Orientation Select Lengthwise or Width- Multi-Capacity, Multi-Unit, and

wise depending on whether the entity is traveling Multiple Locations
on the conveyor in the direction of the entity
length or in the direction of the width. Sometimes it can be unclear whether to use
multi-capacity, multi-unit, or multiple locations
Length The length of the conveyor expressed in when defining parallel workstations. Suppose, for
either feet or meters depending on the default example, we have three parallel stations, each
specified in the General Information dialog. performing the same operation as shown below.
Speed The speed of the conveyor in feet or There are three possibilities for defining the
meters per minute. The distance units can be set machines: (1) as a multi-capacity location, (2) as
in the General Information dialog box. a multi-unit location, or (3) as multiple locations.
The method you choose to define the locations
depends on your application.
Capacities and Units

Capacities
A location capacity is the maximum number of
entities it can hold at any one time. In general,
multi-capacity locations are used to model loca-
tions such as queues, waiting areas, or any other
type of location where multiple entities may be
held or processed concurrently. Consider the fol-
lowing multi-capacity location:

For many situations modeling parallel stations as

a multi-capacity location works fine. By placing
an additional graphic for each station, both the
Units logic and visual effects of having parallel stations
can be achieved. However, you should use a
A location unit is defined as an independently multi-unit location instead of a multi-capacity
operating station. When multiple, independently location when any of the following situations
operating stations all perform the same operation exist:
and are interchangeable, they form a multi-unit
location. Consider the following multi-unit loca- •Individual units have independent down-
tion: times.
•It is important to collect individual statistics
on each unit.
•It is important, for visual effect, to see enti-
ties select individual units by a routing
rule other than First Available (e.g., By
 ProModel 107
User Guide

Turn, Fewest Entries, Longest Empty, including the icon, can be changed as if the unit
etc.). were an independent location.
•It is important, for visual effect, to have a
status light assigned to each unit.
In some situations, it may even be desirable to
model multi-unit locations as totally separate
locations. Multiple locations should be used
instead of multi-unit locations when: If the number of units is changed, the individual
unit location records are automatically created or
•A path network is defined but each location destroyed accordingly.
must interface with a different node on the
network. Individual units of a multi-unit location can be
•Different units have different processing selected to process an entity according to the
times. Selecting Incoming Entities option in the Rules
•The input for each unit comes from different dialog box. (See the discussion regarding the
sources. Rules dialog box later in this section.)
•The routing is different for each unit. In the output report, scheduled hours for the par-
ent location will be the sum of the scheduled
Defining a Multi-Unit Location hours for the individual units.
To create a multi-unit location, enter a number
greater than one as the number of units for a loca- Please note
tion. A corresponding number of locations will
be copied below the multi-unit location record in Multi-Unit notes:
the Location edit table, each with a numeric
extension designating the unit number of that 1. It is not possible to create a path network to
location. Successive graphics, representing indi- interface with each unit of a multi-unit location.
vidual units will be drawn to the right of the orig- You must define the locations individually and
inal location, but may be moved normally. use multiple locations as discussed above.

The original location record becomes the proto- 2. It is not possible to route an entity to a spe-
type for the unit records. Each unit will have the cific unit of a multi-unit location. For example,
prototype's characteristics unless the individual typing Loc2.3 in the destination field of the Rout-
unit's characteristics are changed. In the table ing edit table is not allowed.
below, each unit of the location has a clock-based
downtime defined because the parent location,
Loc2, was assigned a clock-based downtime.
However, Loc2.1 has an additional entry-based Location Downtimes
downtime and Loc2.2 has an additional usage-
A downtime stops a location or resource from
based downtime. Any other characteristic,
operating. A down resource or location no longer
functions and is not available for use. Downtimes
may represent scheduled interruptions such as
shifts, breaks, or scheduled maintenance. Or, they
108 Chapter 5:
Locations

may represent unscheduled, random interruptions the advantage of allowing a downtime to be

such as equipment failures. Downtimes may also defined for an entire group of locations.
be given preemptive or non-preemptive priority
and may require one or more resources for repair
times.
For single capacity locations, downtimes may be
Clock Downtime Editor
based on clock time, usage time, number of enti- Clock downtimes are used to model downtimes
ties processed,a change in entity type, or called that occur depending on the elapsed simulation
using the DOWN statement. Multi-capacity loca- time, such as when a downtime occurs every few
tions have only clock and called downtimes. If a hours, no matter how many entities a location has
downtime is occurring at a location and any other processed.
downtime starts (except a setup downtime), the
The Clock Downtime Editor consists of the edit
two downtimes are processed together, not
table shown below. To access the Clock Down-
sequentially (i.e., downtimes overlap).
time Editor, select Clock from the menu that
appears after clicking the DT... heading button.
How to specify a location down- Most expressions, including distributions, can be
time: included in the Frequency, First Time, and Prior-
ity fields. (See the “Appendix A” on page 587 to
1. Select the desired location in the edit see if the specific statement or function is valid in
table. a particular field.)
2. Click on the DTs... button. This brings up the
downtime selection menu shown here for sin-
gle-capactiy locaitons. (Multi-capacity loca-
tions will only have the Clock and Called
options.)
Frequency The time between successive down-
time occurrences. This option may be an expres-
sion. This field is evaluated as the simulation
progresses, so the time between downtimes can
vary.

3. Each selection opens an edit table for First Time The time of the first downtime occur-
specifying the required elements of the rence. If this field is left blank, the first clock
downtime. downtime will occur according to the frequency
field. This time is evaluated after any initializa-
tion logic.
Please note
Priority The priority (0-999) of the downtime
An alternative and more straightforward method occurrence. The default priority is 99, the highest
for defining downtimes due to breaks or shifts is non-preemptive priority.
to use the Shift Editor. The Shift Editor also has Scheduled... Select YES if the downtime is to
be counted as a scheduled downtime. Select NO
 ProModel 109
User Guide

if the downtime is to be counted as a non-sched- included in the Frequency and First Occurrence
uled downtime. fields. (See the “Appendix A” on page 587 to see
if the specific statement or function is valid in a
All scheduled downtimes will be deducted from
particular field.)
the total scheduled hours reported in the output
statistics and, therefore, will not be considered in
computing utilization, percent down, and so on.
Logic Enter any logic statements to be pro-
cessed when the downtime occurs. When the
logic has completed, the location becomes avail- Frequency The number of entities to be pro-
able. In the most simple case, the logic is simply cessed between downtime occurrences. This may
a WAIT statement with a time value or expres- be a constant value or a numeric expression and
sion which represents the duration of the down- is evaluated as the simulation progresses.
time. Click on the heading button to open a larger First Occurrence The number of entities to be
edit window. processed before the first downtime. This may be
Disable Select YES to temporarily disable the a value or a numeric expression. If left blank, the
downtime without deleting it from the table. first downtime will be based on the frequency
entered.
The example above shows a simple clock-based
downtime where the location is down for 10 min- Logic Any logic statements to execute when the
utes every 2 hours (120 min). Because this time downtime occurs. Normally, this logic is simply a
should not be included in the total scheduled or time expression representing the length of the
available hours, YES is selected in the “Sched- downtime. Click on the heading button to open a
uled” column. larger edit window.
Disable Select YES to temporarily disable the
Entry Downtime Editor downtime without deleting it from the table.
Entry downtimes are used to model downtimes In the example above, Robot1 will go down
when a location needs to be serviced after pro- every 100 entries, with the first downtime occur-
cessing a certain number of entities. For example, ring after only 50 entries. When the downtime
if a printer needs a new cartridge after printing occurs, it will require a resource (M1) to service
2000 shipping orders, an entity downtime should the machine for some amount of time between
be defined. The downtime occurs after the entity 3.8 and 4.2 minutes. If resource M1 is unavail-
that triggered the downtime leaves the location. able when requested, the robot will remain down
until M1 becomes available.
The Entry Downtime Editor consists of the edit
table shown below. To access the Entry Down-
time editor, select Entry from the menu that Please note
appears after clicking the DT... heading button.
Entry downtimes are only available for single Entry-based downtimes do not accumulate. For
capacity locations. The Downtime Editor con- example, if a downtime cannot occur because the
tains fields for defining downtimes based on the priorities of the entities being processed are at
number of entries processed at a location. Most least 2 levels higher than the priority of the
functions, including distributions, can be
110 Chapter 5:
Locations

downtime, only the first downtime resumes after Logic Any logic statements to be processed
processing the entities. All others are ignored. when the downtime occurs. Typically, this field
contains a time expression representing the
length of the downtime. Click on the heading but-
ton to open a larger edit window.
Usage Downtime Editor Disable Select YES to temporarily disable the
Usage downtimes are used to model downtimes downtime without deleting it from the table.
that occur after a location has been operating for
In this example, Robot2 will experience break-
a certain amount of time, such as if a machine
downs according to a Gamma distribution with
fails due to wear after so many hours of opera-
shape and scale parameters 1.7 and 2.3. Mainte-
tion. Usage downtimes are different from clock
nance resource M1 will be used to service the
downtimes because usage downtimes are based
robot. The repair time is normally distributed
on location operation time, which does not
with a mean of 2.4 minutes and a standard devia-
include blocked time. Clock downtimes are based
tion of .3 minutes.
on total elapsed simulation time (operation time,
blocked time, idle time). Usage downtimes are
available only for single-capacity locations. Please note
The Usage Downtime Editor consists of the edit
Usage-based downtimes do not accumulate. For
table shown below. It contains fields for defining
example, if a downtime cannot occur because the
location downtimes based on the actual time in
priorities of the entities being processed are at
use. Most functions, including distributions can
least 2 levels higher than the priority of the
be included in the Frequency, First Time, and Pri-
downtime, only the first downtime resumes after
ority fields. (See the “Appendix A” on page 587
processing the entities. All others are ignored.
to see if a specific function is valid in a particular
field.)

Setup Downtime Editor

Setup downtimes should be used to model situa-
tions where a location can process different types
Frequency The usage time between down- of entities, but needs to be setup to do so. Setup
times. downtimes will not overlap but will preempt
First Time The time in use before the first down- other downtimes in a manner similar to that of an
time occurrence. Leave blank if the first time is to entity. Setup downtimes are only available for
be based upon the frequency entered. single capacity locations.

Priority The priority, between 0 and 999 of the Note that a setup downtime is assumed to occur
downtime. The default priority is 99, which is the only when an entity arrives at a location and is
highest non-preemptive priority. Generally, different from the previous entity to arrive at the
usage downtimes tend to be preemptive and location. Consequently, the word ALL in the
should have priority values greater than 100. prior entity field means all except the same entity
type.
 ProModel 111
User Guide

The Setup Downtime Editor consists of the edit statement, the called downtime will execute its
table shown below. It contains fields for defining logic.
location downtimes based on the arrival of a new
entity type.

Name The name of the called downtime. This

is the name that will be referenced by the DOWN
Entity The incoming entity for which the setup statement.
occurs. If the setup time for all entity types is
Priority The priority (0-999) of the downtime
identical when shifting from the same prior
occurrence. The default priority is 99, the highest
entity, the reserved word ALL may be entered.
non-preemptive priority.
Prior Entity The entity preceding the entity for
Scheduled... Select YES if the downtime is to
which the setup occurs. If the setup is the same
be counted as a scheduled downtime. Select NO
regardless of the preceding entity, you may enter
if the downtime is to be counted as a non-sched-
the reserved word ALL.
uled downtime.
Logic Enter any logic statements to be pro-
All scheduled downtimes will be deducted from
cessed when the downtime occurs. Click on the
the total scheduled hours reported in the output
heading button to open a larger edit window.
statistics and, therefore, will not be considered in
Disable Select YES to temporarily disable the computing utilization, percent down, and so on.
downtime without deleting it from the table.
Logic Enter any logic statements to be pro-
This example shows that the time to setup Robot3 cessed when the downtime occurs. When the
depends on the arriving entity and the prior logic has completed, the location becomes avail-
entity. If a GearB follows a GearC, the setup time able. In the most simple case, the logic is simply
for the machine will be based on a Lognormal a WAIT statement with a time value or expres-
distribution with a mean of 4.5 minutes and a sion which represents the duration of the down-
standard deviation of .95 min. But if a GearC fol- time. Click on the heading button to open a larger
lows a GearA, the setup time will be based on a edit window.
Lognormal distribution with a mean of 2.3 min
For more information on the DOWN statement,
and a standard deviation of .2 min.
see “Down” on page 470.

Called Downtime Editor

Location Priorities and Preemption
Called downtimes are used in conjunction with
Priorities determine which entity or downtime
the DOWN statement to make a location go
uses a location when more than one entity or
down. When the name of the called downtime is
downtime is contending for it. Priorities may be
referenced during simulation by the DOWN
any value or expression between 0 and 999, with
higher values having higher priority. For simple
prioritizing, you should use priorities from 0 to
112 Chapter 5:
Locations

99. Priorities greater than 99 are used for pre- Assigning Priorities
empting (bumping or displacing) entities or An entity or downtime accesses a location based
downtimes currently occupying a location. on its priority. An entity is assigned a priority for
Priority values are divided into ten levels (0 to accessing a location in the Destination column of
99, 100 to 199, ..., 900 to 999), with values the Routing edit table. A downtime is assigned a
beyond 99 used for preempting entities or down- priority in the appropriate Downtime edit table.
times of a lower priority level. Multiple preemp- The first of the following examples shows a pri-
tive levels make it possible to preempt entities or ority of 100 assigned to EntA as it tries to claim
downtimes that are themselves preemptive. This Loc2. This priority is high enough to preempt any
means that an entity, EntA, with a priority of 99 entity at the location having a priority less than
can be preempted by another entity, EntB, with a 100. It is not high enough, however, to preempt
higher priority level of 199. In turn, another any downtimes at the location.
entity, EntC, with a priority of 299 can preempt
EntB at the same location. Process Table
To preempt an entity currently using a location, a Entity Location Operation (min)
preempting entity or downtime must have a prior- EntA Loc1 USE Res1 FOR N(3,.1)
ity at least ONE level higher than the entity cur-
rently at the location. To preempt a downtime in Routing Table
effect at a location, a preempting entity must
Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic
have a priority at least TWO levels higher than
1 EntA Loc2, 100 First 1 MOVE FOR 1
the current downtime. Since all overlapping loca-
tion downtimes are processed concurrently This example shows a priority of 200 assigned to
(except setup downtimes), a downtime cannot, in a usage-based downtime at Loc4. This priority
effect, preempt another downtime. can preempt any entity at the location with a pri-
ority less than 200.
A preempted entity will resume processing where
it left off unless the location was in the middle of
a setup downtime. If the entity initiated a setup
downtime before being preempted, it will begin
processing the setup logic from the beginning
when it resumes.
The following table shows the minimum priority
level requirements for an incoming entity or an
upcoming downtime to preempt the current entity
or downtime at the location.
 ProModel 113
User Guide

Minimum Required Priority Levels for Example 1

Preempting at a Location The following example demonstrates what hap-
pens when Ent 1 with a priority of 99 is pre-
To preempt To preempt the
the Current empted by Ent 2 which has a priority of 100 or
Current Entity downtime greater.
Incoming 1 priority level 2 priority levels
higher higher
Entity Preempting an Entity
Entity
Upcoming 1 priority level Downtimes over-
Downtime higher lap Ent 1

•The upper left quadrant shows that for an

entity to gain access to a location already
processing another entity, the incoming
entity must have a priority at least one Ent 2
level higher than the current entity's prior- Time
ity.
•The upper right quadrant shows that for an T2 T3 T4
T1
incoming entity to gain access to a loca-
tion where a downtime is currently in Ent 1 processing resumes upon
effect, the entity must have a priority at completion of Ent 2 processing
least two levels higher than the downtime's
priority.
•The lower left quadrant shows that a for a Example 2
downtime to preempt an entity currently This example demonstrates what happens when a
processing, the downtime must have a pri- downtime having a priority of 99 is preempted by
ority one level higher than the currently an entity having a priority of 200 or greater.
processing entity.
•The lower right quadrant shows that all loca- Entity Preempting a Downtime
tion downtimes (except setup) are concur-
rent or overlapping. Setup downtimes
DT
preempt as if they were entities.
The following examples demonstrate the expla-
nations above in greater detail.

Entity
Time

T2 T3 T4
T1

Downtime resumes immediately upon

completion of entity processing
114 Chapter 5:
Locations

Example 3 Example 5
This example demonstrates the behavior when an This example demonstrates what happens when a
entity with a priority of 99 is preempted by a setup downtime with a priority of 99 is pre-
downtime with a priority value of 100 or greater. empted by a normal downtime having a priority
of 100 or greater.
Downtime Preempting an Entity
Downtime Preempting Entity in Setup
Entity

Entity setup

DT Time

DT
Time
T2 T3 T4
T1
T1 T2 T3 T4
Remaining entity processing time
resumes upon completion of downtime
Remaining setup time resumes upon
completion of downtime
Example 4
This example illustrates how, regardless of the Example 6
downtime priority values, downtimes will over- This example demonstrates what happens when
lap. The exception is setup downtimes, which Ent 1 setup downtime with a priority of 99 is pre-
preempt downtimes exactly like entities (see empted by Ent 2 having a priority of 100 or
Example 5). greater.
Overlapped/Concurrent Downtimes Entity Preempting Entity in Setup
DT 1 Ent 1 setup Ent 1 setup

DT 2

Overlap Ent 2

Time
Time

T1 T2 T3 T4
T1 T2 T3 T4
Total Downtime Ent 1 setup must start over upon completion
of Ent 2 processing
 ProModel 115
User Guide

Special Notes Regarding Location Downtime inhibiting statements

Downtimes
1. When an entity preempts another entity WAIT UNTIL
(Example 1), or when an entity preempts a ACCUM
downtime (Example 2), or when a downtime COMBINE
preempts an entity (Example 3), any
resources owned by the preempted entity or MATCH
downtime will be freed temporarily until the GROUP
preempting entity or downtime finishes at JOIN
the location. At that time, the original entity
or downtime will seek to claim the exact LOAD
units of the resource or resources it owned
before the preemption occurred.
2. As shown in examples 5 and 6, an entity that 5. In cases where a downtime or other entity
requires a location setup will be treated dif- attempts to preempt an entity’s use of a loca-
ferently depending on the preempting activ- tion, a preemption process may be defined to
ity. If the preempting activity is another override the default way of handling the pre-
entity, the current setup in process will have
emption. See “Preemption Process Logic” on
to start over from the beginning. However, if
page 300.
the preempting activity is a downtime, the
remaining setup time will finish upon com-
pletion of the preempting downtime. Rules Dialog Box
3. Locations will not go down if they are in a
blocked state. A location is blocked if it has The Rules dialog box, selected by clicking on the
an entity that cannot be routed because of the Rules button in the Locations edit table, is used to
unavailability of the next location. This may choose the rule for ProModel to follow when
also include the time an entity waits to enter making the following decisions:
a location based on a routing condition, such •Selecting incoming entities
as LOAD. •Queuing for output
4. Locations will not go down if any of the •Selecting a unit
occupying entities are waiting for a resource
or are waiting at any downtime inhibiting
statement.
116 Chapter 5:
Locations

Selecting Incoming Entities Queuing For Output

When a location becomes available and there is When an entity finishes its operation at a loca-
more than one entity waiting to enter, a decision tion, other entities to finish ahead of it may not
must be made regarding which one to admit. The have departed. A decision must be made to allow
primary determining factor is the priority of the the entity to leave or to wait according to some
input routing. The entity with the highest routing queuing rule. If one of the following queuing
priority will be admitted regardless of the incom- rules is not specified, “No Queuing” will be used.
ing selection rule. However, if two or more enti-
No Queuing Entities that have completed their
ties have the same priority for claiming the
operations at the current location are free to route
location, then the location selects an incoming
to other locations independent of other entities
entity based on the incoming selection rules listed
that have finished their operations. If this option
below.
is selected it is not displayed in the Rules Box.
Oldest by Priority Selects the entity waiting the
First In, First Out (FIFO) The first entity complet-
longest among those having the highest routing
ing operation must leave for its next location
priority.
before the second entity completing its operation
Random Selects randomly with equal probabil- can leave, and so on.
ity among all waiting entities.
Last In, First Out (LIFO) Entities that have fin-
Least Available Capacity Selects the entity ished operations queue for output LIFO so the
coming from the location having the least avail- last one finished is the first to leave.
able capacity. Ties are broken by the entity wait-
By Type Entities that have finished operations
ing the longest.
queue for output FIFO by entity type so the rout-
Last Selected Location Selects the entity com- ing for each entity type is processed indepen-
ing from the location that was selected last. Ties dently of routings for all other types.
are broken by the entity waiting the longest. If no
Highest Attribute Value Entities that have
entities are waiting at the last selected location,
completed operations queue for output according
the Oldest by Priority rule takes effect.
to the highest value of a specified attribute.
Highest Attribute Value Selects the entity with
Lowest Attribute Value Entities that have com-
the highest attribute value for a specified
pleted operations queue for output according to
attribute. Ties are broken by the entity that has
the lowest value of a specified attribute.
been waiting the longest. Location attributes are
also valid entries.
Selecting a Unit
Lowest Attribute Value Selects the entity
which has the lowest attribute value for a speci- If the location has multiple units, then incoming
fied attribute. Ties are broken by the entity wait- entities must select which available unit to use.
ing the longest. Location attributes are also valid One of the following rules may be selected.
entries. These decision rules apply to multi-unit locations
only.
First Available Selects the first available unit.
 ProModel 117
User Guide

By Turn Rotates the selection among the avail- which has an “Oldest by Priority” rule for select-
able units. ing incoming entities.
Most Available Capacity Selects the unit hav-
ing the most available capacity. This rule has no
effect with single capacity units.
Fewest Entries Selects an available unit with the
fewest entries.
Random Selects an available unit randomly.

Longest Empty Selects the unit that has been

empty the longest.
When specifying the decision rules for selecting
incoming entities at a location, it is important to
remember that the routing of an entity is also
dependent on the queuing for output decision
rules at the previous location. The following
example will clarify this principle.

Rules Dialog Box Example

Two parts are queued for output at Loc1. The part
Consider a location, Loc1, which has a “Last In, waiting the longest, EntA, at Loc1 has been wait-
First Out (LIFO)” as the queuing for output rule. ing 10 minutes. The other part, EntB, which
Suppose that two other locations, Loc2 and Loc3, queued for output after EntA, has been waiting 5
have “No Queuing” for the output rule. The three minutes. At Loc2, the part queued for output,
locations, Loc1, Loc2, and Loc3 feed into Loc4 EntC, has been waiting 7 minutes. At Loc3, the
part queued for output that has been waiting the
longest, EntD, has waited 3 minutes.
The part to enter Loc4 first is EntC at Loc2 which
waited 7 minutes. Even though EntA has been
waiting ten minutes, it must wait until EntB has
been routed, because EntB is ahead of it in the
output queue according to the LIFO queuing rule.
Once Loc4 finishes processing EntC, EntB at
Loc1 enters Loc4. EntB enters before EntA
because entities must be output before a destina-
tion selects incoming entities. Next, EntA at Loc1
enters Loc4 after which EntD at Loc3 enters
Loc4.
118 Chapter 5:
Entities

Entities Entities may also have user-assigned attributes to

represent such things as dimensions, weights,
Anything that a model processes is called an pass/fail status, and group identifiers.
“Entity.” Documents, people, or phone calls
should be modeled as entities. Entities may be
grouped, such as when several boxes are stacked
on a pallet (through the GROUP statement); con-
solidated into a single entity, such as when two or
more documents are joined together (through the
JOIN statement); split into two or more entities,
such as when a box is opened and the contents
removed (through the SPLIT AS statement); or
converted to one or more new entities (through
the RENAME or CREATE statement or by defin-
ing multiple outputs in the routing).
Each entity type has a name and a name index
number. In logic and expressions, an entity can
be referred to by name or by its name-index num-
ber using the ENT() function. The ENT() func-
tion allows a statement requiring an entity name
to use an expression that may change to reference
different entity names as a simulation progresses. How to access the entities editor:
See “Ent()” on page 476 for more information.
• Select Entities from the Build menu.

or...

• Right click on the existing entity and select

Edit.

Entities Editor
Entity types are created and edited with the Enti-
ties Editor. The Entities Editor consists of (1) an
edit table to define the name and specifications of
each entity type in the system, and (2) the Entity
Graphics window for selecting one or more icons
 ProModel 119
User Guide

to represent each entity. The fields of the edit How to define entities graphically:
table are explained below.
1. Select Entities from the Build menu.
2. Check the New box in the Entity Graphics
window.
3. Select an icon for the entity. (Use the
Icon This is the graphic icon used to represent Graphic Editor to create new icons.)
the entity during the animation. Entity graphics 4. Edit the name and other default entries for
are defined or modified using the Entity Graphics the entity in the Entity edit table.
window. This icon can vary during the simula-
tion. See “Defining Multiple Entity Graphics” on
page 120.
Name The entity name. See “Names” on
page 404 for more information on naming.
Speed This entry is optional and applies to self-
moving entities such as humans. It defines the
speed in feet or meters (depending on the dis-
tance units chosen in the General Information
Dialog box) per minute to be used for any of the
entity's movement along a path network. When
creating a new entity, a default value of 150 fpm
(or 50 mpm for metric systems) is automatically
entered. This is roughly the speed of a human
walking.
Stats The level of statistical detail to collect for
each entity type: None, Basic, or Time Series.
Time series statistics must be selected if you wish
to view a time series plot in the output module.
Notes Any information you wish to enter about
the entity, such as material, supplier name.

Defining Entities
Entity Graphic Dimensions
Entities are typically defined graphically by
clicking on a desired library graphic in the Entity An entity has two sets of dimensions, a logical
Graphics window. Alternatively, you may define (length and width) dimension, and a graphical
entities by simply entering their names and char- (horizontal and vertical) dimension. An entity's
acteristics in the Entity edit table. Entity graphics length and width are used to determine the num-
are optional. ber of entities that can fit on a conveyor, and do
not affect the size of the graphic on the screen
120 Chapter 5:
Entities

during a simulation. They are changed in the changes automatically to maintain proportional-
fields labeled Length and Width in the Entity ity.
Graphics window. If multiple graphics are
defined for an entity, each graphic can have a dif-
ferent length and width. Which side a user
chooses to call the length or width is unimportant Defining Multiple Entity Graph-
as long as the proper side is referenced when
defining a conveyor. If no conveyors are defined
ics
in the model, no specifications of a length and Entity types can be assigned more than one
width are necessary. graphic to represent the entity at various stages of
An entity's horizontal and vertical dimensions are production or traveling in different directions. An
used to determine the size of the graphic on the entity representing a loan application could be
screen. These dimensions can be changed in two assigned three graphics: the first representing the
ways. The scroll bar to the right of the graphic application before a credit check has been
will scale the graphic. In addition, the horizontal received, the second representing the application
and vertical dimensions can be changed by click- after receiving the credit check but before the
ing on the Edit button, then clicking on the loan is approved, and the third representing the
Dimensions... button from the resulting dialog application after the loan is approved. During the
box. The default dimensions are determined simulation, the application’s status could be
when an icon is created to scale in the Graphic shown by adding additional graphics to represent
Editor. If the size is changed using the scroll bar, each state of the loan process using the
the change will be reflected in the dimensions GRAPHIC statement (see “Graphic” on page 492
listed. If you change either the horizontal or verti- for information).
cal dimension from the dialog box, the size of the
icon will change accordingly.

Please note

Since the horizontal and vertical dimensions must

remain proportional, only one of the dimensions
needs to be changed. The other dimension
 ProModel 121
User Guide

How to define multiple graphics preemptive priorities. An entity with a high

for an entity type: enough priority can take over a location process-
ing an entity or a location that is down. An entity
with high enough priority can also take over a
1. Uncheck the New box on the Entity Graph-
ics window. Numbered graphic cells appear resource when it is being used by another entity
in the Entity Graphics window. or when it is off shift. When an entity takes over a
location that was down or in use by another
entity, the entity has preempted the downtime or
the other entity.
In a multi-capacity location, the occupying entity
will be preempted only if there is no more capac-
ity at the location and the occupying entity is
undergoing an operation time. Further, the occu-
pying entity cannot be one that has been split,
created, grouped, combined, ungrouped, or
Multiple unloaded at the location.
graphic
An entity must have a priority one level higher
cells
than an occupying entity to preempt the occupy-
ing entity. An entity must have a priority that is
two levels higher than a downtime to preempt the
downtime. If an entity does not have a high
enough priority to preempt another entity or
2. Click on the desired cell. downtime at a location, it waits in line (oldest by
3. Select a library graphic from the graphics priority) to access the location (see “Location Pri-
menu. orities and Preemption” on page 111).
4. Repeat steps two and three until all the Note that the priority of an entity is not defined
desired graphics have been assigned to the for the entity itself. For claiming a location, it is
entity type.
defined in the destination field of the routing. For
capturing a resource it is defined as part of the
GET, JOINTLY GET, or USE statement. A pri-
The graphic that represents an entity during a ority may, however, be assigned to an attribute of
simulation will be the first in this series until an a referenced entity when it attempts to access a
entity's graphic is changed with the GRAPHIC resource or location.
statement.
Example of Preemptive Entities
Preemptive Entities In this example entity (EntA) arrives at location
Loc1. Immediately upon arrival it requests to use
Often during a simulation, it is desirable to have resource Res1 for a normally distributed amount
an entity preempt an activity at a location or of time. The priority for obtaining the resource is
resource in order to gain access to that location or 99, which means that it is a non-preemptive
resource. These situations can be modeled using request. When Res1 becomes available, EntA
122 Chapter 5:
Entities

will be first in line because it has the highest non-

preemptive priority possible. When processing is
complete for this entity, it is routed to Loc2 with
priority 200. This means that it can preempt
another entity or a downtime that may already be
in process at Loc2. (See “Location Downtimes”
on page 107 and “Resource Downtimes” on
page 138 for more details on entity preemption.)

Process Table
Entity Location Operation (min)
EntA Loc1 Use Res1,99 For N(3,.1)

Routing Table
Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic
1 EntA Loc2,200 First 1 MOVE FOR
2.5
 ProModel 123
User Guide

Path Networks Path Networks are defined in the Path Networks

Editor, which is accessed from the Build menu.
When resources are modeled as dynamic
resources which travel between locations, they
follow path networks. Entities moving by them-
selves between locations may also move on path
networks if referenced in the move logic of the
routing. Otherwise, they follow the routing path.
Multiple entities and resources may share a com-
mon path network. Movement along a path net-
work may be defined in terms of speed and
distance, or simply by time. See discussion on
Automatic Time and Distance Calculation, later
in this section, for more information about move-
ment according to speed and distance or by time.
There are three types of path networks: passing,
non-passing, and crane. A passing network is
used for open path movement where entities and
resources are free to overtake one another. Non-
passing networks consist of single-file tracks or
guide paths such as those used for AGVs where How to create or edit a path net-
vehicles are not able to pass. Crane path networks work:
are described in more detail in the section “Crane
Systems” on page 269. • Select Path Networks from the Build menu.
Passing and non-passing networks consist of
nodes, which are connected by path segments.
or...
Path segments are defined by a beginning and an
ending node and may be uni-directional or bi-
directional. Multiple path segments, which may
• Right click on the existing path network
be straight or jointed, may be connected at path
and select Edit.
nodes. For all path networks, path nodes define
the points where the resources using the network
interface with processing locations.
Path Networks Editor
The Path Networks Editor consists of an edit
table with fields for defining basic information
about each network, such as the network name,
the type of network (Non-Passing or Passing),
and the basis for movement along the network
(Speed and Distance or Time). Clicking on the
124 Chapter 5:
Path Networks

appropriate heading button will bring up a table The Path Segment edit table is covered in more
for defining nodes, path segments, and location detail later in this section.
node interfaces.
Interfaces The number of location-node inter-
faces in the path network. If an entity will be
picked up or dropped off at a particular location
by a resource, that location must connect to a
node through a location-node interface. Clicking
The following explains each field of the Path on the heading button opens the Interfaces edit
Networks edit table. table where the user may define nodes that con-
nect to processing locations. The Interfaces edit
Graphic For passing or non-passing path net-
table is covered in more detail later in this sec-
works, this button displays the Path Color dialog,
tion.
which allows you to define the color of the path
network. Click on the heading button or double Mapping The number of entries in the Mapping
click in this field to bring up the graphic dialog. edit table. Clicking on the heading button opens
Both dialogs allow you to specify whether or not the Mapping edit table where the user may map
the network will be visible at run time. destinations to particular branches of the net-
work. (The Mapping edit table is covered in more
Name A name that identifies the path network.
detail later in this section.)
For more information about valid names, see
“Names” on page 404. Nodes The number of nodes defined in the
Nodes edit table. Nodes are created automatically
Type Set this field to Non-Passing if you want
when graphically defining path segments. Click
entities and resources to queue behind one
on this heading button to open the Node edit
another on the path network. If a path is Non-
table, which may be used to define nodes manu-
Passing, entities may not pass each other, even if
ally or set Node Limits on one or more nodes.
an entity is traveling at a faster speed than the one
Nodes may also be used to control a resource's
in front of it. Set this field to Passing if you want
behavior through node logic or search routines
entities or resources to pass each other on the
such as work and park searches (see “Resources”
path network.
on page 132). The Nodes edit table is covered in
A "Crane" option is also available, which is more detail later in this section.
described in more detail in the section “Crane
Systems” on page 269. How to create a path network
T/S Set to either Time or Speed and Distance graphically:
as the basis for measuring movement along the
network. See the discussion on Automatic Time 1. Set the default time and distance values
and Distance Calculation later in this section for per grid unit from the Grid dialog box.
more information. 2. Choose Path Networks... from the Build
Paths The number of path segments in the net- menu.
work. Clicking on the heading button opens the 3. Enter the name of the network in the Path
Path Segment edit table where the user may Networks edit table.
define the network's node to node connections.
 ProModel 125
User Guide

4. Select either Passing or Non-passing as the Please note

network type.
5. Select either Speed and Distance or Time If you hold down the CTRL key and move the cur-
as the travel basis. sor over a path segment or joint, the Add/Delete
6. Click on the Paths... heading button to joint cursor will appear. From here, left click to
open the Path Segment edit table. add or delete a joint.
7. Lay out the network using the mouse but-
tons as described below.

To highlight a path on the layout and in

the Path Segment edit table
How to create path segments: • Left click on that path.

1. Left click to create a node and begin a

path segment.
How to create additional nodes or
2. Additional left clicks produce path joints.
move existing nodes:
3. A right click ends the segment and creates
a new node.
1. Click on the Nodes heading button in the
Path Networks edit table.
2. Click the left mouse button to create a
How to modify path segments: node both on the layout and in the Nodes
edit table.
3. Drag an existing node to move that node.
To create a new path from an existing
node
• Left click on that node.
How to move a path network:

To delete a joint 1. Click on the Paths heading button in the

• Right click on an existing joint. Path Networks edit table.
2. Left click on any path segment and drag
to the desired position. The entire network will
To add a joint move.
1. Right-click anywhere on a path segment.
2. Select Add Node from the menu.
3. Drag the joint to the desired position.
A Typical Path Network
The following diagram shows a path network
consisting of seven nodes (N1 to N7) connected
by path segments. Path segments may be straight
lines from one node to another, as in the segment
126 Chapter 5:
Path Networks

from node N7 to node N6, or they can have any Time If travel along the network is to be mea-
number of joints, such as the segment from node sured in time rather than in speed and distance,
N2 to node N5. then enter the time required for a resource or
entity to traverse the path segment. This value
may be any numeric expression except for
resource and downtime system functions. When
travel along a path is measured in time, all
resources and entities traveling along the path
take the same amount of time to travel it, regard-
less of their speed. This field's title changes to
“Distance” if the T/S field in the Path Networks
edit table is set to Speed and Distance.
Distance If travel along the network is to be
measured in terms of speed and distance, enter
the length of the segment which determines the
travel time along the path in conjunction with the
speed of the resource or entity.
Path Segment Edit Table
The value entered may be any numeric expres-
This table is used to define the Path Segments sion except for attributes, arrays, and system
that make up a path network. When specifying functions. This expression is evaluated only
travel according to time between nodes, the head- when the simulation begins.
ing “Distance” changes automatically to “Time.”
The distance may be followed by a comma and a
speed factor between .01 and 99. This speed fac-
tor may be used to model any circumstance
affecting the speed of items traveling the path.
For example, a resource may normally travel at
150 fpm, but may slow down as it goes around a
corner to 80% of the original speed, 120 fpm.
This would be entered as 100, .8 for a path seg-
ment 100 feet long which traversed the corner.
This field's title changes to “Time” if the T/S
field in the Path Networks edit table is set to
Time.
The following defines the fields of the Path Seg-
ment edit table. Please note
From The beginning node of the path segment.
Path segment editing notes:
To The ending node of the path segment.
1. If no path segments have been defined for a
BI Set to Uni-directional or Bi-directional network, resources and entities will move from
depending on whether traffic can travel in only node to node in zero time. See “Processing” on
one or either direction.
 ProModel 127
User Guide

page 149 for more information about the Routing 4. Enter the time and distance values as
Move dialog box. shown below.

2. To move nodes already defined on the layout,

click on the Nodes button and move the desired
nodes.
3. To insure that all nodes can be seen by the
user, two nodes cannot be located at the same
point.

Automatic Time and Distance

Calculation
The distance between two successive nodes or
the time required to traverse a segment between Please note
two successive nodes is calculated according to
the number of grid units between the nodes and To set these values as defaults, you must check
the default time and distance values per grid unit. the Save as Default Grid Settings option on the
ProModel automatically enters this time or dis- grid dialog box.
tance in the Time/Distance column of the Path
Segments edit table. Although the calculated time
or distance may be edited later, relying on the
automatic time and distance calculation feature Interfaces Edit Table
allows path networks to be built to scale and
saves time when defining path networks graphi- If an entity will be picked up or dropped off at a
cally. The time or distance for a path is automati- particular location by a resource, that location
cally recalculated whenever the path is edited must connect to a node through a location-node
(lengthened or shortened) unless you unchecked interface. The Interfaces edit table is used to
the “Recalculate path lengths when adjusted” box define location-node interfaces. The graphic
under Options in the Tools menu. below shows how to set node N1 to interface with
location Loc1, node N3 to interface with Loca-
How to set the default time and
distance values per grid unit:

1. Select Layout Settings from the View menu.

2. Select the Grid Settings button.
3. Click on the Scale... button in the Grid dia-
log box.
128 Chapter 5:
Path Networks

tion Loc2, and so on, as in the example at the Mapping Edit Table
beginning of this section.
If there are multiple paths emanating from one
node to another node, the default path selection
will be based on the shortest distance for speed &
distance networks, and the least number of nodes
for time based networks. These defaults can be
overridden by explicitly mapping some destina-
tion nodes to specific branches that entities and
resources will take when traveling out of a
“from” node.

The fields of the Interfaces edit table are

described as follows.
Node The node name.

Location The name of any locations which

interface with the node. Nodes can interface with
several locations, but a location may interface
with only one node on the same path network.

How to create location-node

interfaces The fields of the Mapping edit table are described
as follows.
1. Left click on the desired node to begin From Entities and resources traveling out of this
rubber-banding a link or interface. node will use this mapping record to decide
2. Left click on the desired location to com- which of the alternate branches will be taken
plete the interface. next.
To The “from” node and the “to” node together
define the branch to be taken next. This might
also be interpreted as the node which entities and
Please note resources will go through, to reach one of the
destination nodes.
A node on a path network may not interface with
a particular unit of a multi-unit location (i.e., Dest. Entities and resources whose ultimate des-
Loc1.2). A node may interface only with the tination is one of these nodes will be forced to
“parent” location (i.e., Loc1) of a multi-unit take the branch that directly connects the “from”
location. node to the “to” node.
 ProModel 129
User Guide

Please note 4. Click on the destination node(s) in the Lay-

out Window. This places the selected node(s)
in the Destination field.
When your simulation is compiled and run, Pro-
Model will automatically define destinations for
your network mapping, if you have not defined
them yourself. These computer-generated map- Please note
pings will not appear in the Dest. column of the
Mappings table, but the From and To columns
ProModel automatically calculates and uses the
will contain information on these mappings. Do
shortest paths on unmapped portions of networks
not delete the information in these collumns.
(if the network is time based, the path having the
least number of nodes is used). Explicitly indicat-
ing shortest paths using mapping constraints will
speed up the translation process, especially for
How to create mappings using the models with complex networks.
mapping edit table:

1. Click on the Mapping... heading button in

the Path Network edit table. This will open the An example of mapping two branches of a net-
Mapping edit table. work is given on the following pages.
2. Click on the From heading button and
select the node to be mapped. Mapping Example
3. Click on the To heading button and select
The following example uses a path network dia-
the terminating node for the branch to be
mapped.
gram to demonstrate mapping.

4. Click on the Destination heading button In this example, we wish to force resources and
and select the desired node(s). entities enroute from Loc1 to Loc4, Loc5, or
Loc6 to take the branch directly connecting node
N2 and node N5 to avoid traffic congestion at the
intersection of the two main branches at node N3.
How to create mappings graphi- Since there are multiple ways to go from N2 to
cally: N5, a decision as to which alternative will be
used has to be made at N2.
1. Click on the Mapping... heading button in In addition, we want resources and entities to fol-
the Path Network edit table. This will open the low the same path in the opposite direction when
Mapping edit table. enroute from Loc4, Loc5, or Loc6 to Loc1. In
2. Click on the from node in the Layout Win- this case, the decision must be made at N5.
dow. This places the selected node in the
From field. Because the combined length of segments con-
necting N2 to N3 and N3 to N5 is shorter than the
3. Click on the to node in the Layout Win- length of the single segment from N2 to N5,
dow. Note that the to node must be directly
resources and entities based on speed and dis-
connected to the from node with a single
branch.
tance will normally take the former path to travel.
130 Chapter 5:
Path Networks

To force them to take the longer path, we must path network extended up to include many other
specify mapping constraints. nodes N8, N9, ..., and locations Loc7, Loc8, ...,
then we would change the Mapping edit table as
follows:
1. Delete line 1 in the Mapping edit table.
2. Make sure that line 3 is there (it is not
optional any more).
3. Include a line which reads: “From: N2, To:
N5, Dest:<BLANK>”.

This case requires two explicit mapping con-

straints to override the selection of default paths
in each direction: The first table entry forces enti-
ties and resources en-route from Loc1 to Loc4,
Loc5, or Loc6 to override the default path and
take the direct branch from N2 to N5. The second
table entry forces entities and resources traveling The empty destination column will be interpreted
from N5 (originally from Loc6, Loc5 or Loc4) to as “all other destination nodes” by ProModel.
Loc1 to take the direct branch from N5 to N2.
Entries 3 and 4 are optional, and might be useful
Please note
to speed up translation, since the restrictions they
impose allow the shortest path calculations to be
bypassed. For a “from” node (unless there is a branch map
with a blank destination column), any nodes not
explicitly listed in the destination columns of
existing mapping records will be reached via the
default path selections.

Nodes Edit Table

The Nodes edit table lists the nodes that make up
a path network and is used to limit the number of
resources and entities that may occupy a node at
any given time. In addition to controlling traffic
There is a shortcut to force the same non-default
on a path network, nodes also define where
path selection constraint to a number of destina-
resources interface with locations or where enti-
tion nodes: For instance, if the vertical arm of the
ties enter and leave the path network. Nodes may
 ProModel 131
User Guide

also be used solely to control a resource or errors. This saves compilation time on large mod-
entity's behavior through node logic or search els.
routines such as work and park searches (see
However, if you edit one or more of your path
“Resources” on page 132).
networks, ProModel will once again check the
modified path networks for errors during compi-
lation. ProModel will consider a path network to
have been modified if its name was at any time,
since the last compile, highlighted in the Path
Network dialog window.

The following defines the fields of the Nodes edit

table.
Name The node name.

Limit The maximum number of resources and

entities that may occupy a node at any given
moment. A blank entry means there is no limit.

Pre-translation check for Path

Networks
When you run your simulation, ProModel will
compile your model and check your path net-
works for errors. If your model has large, com-
plex path networks, this could cause your
model’s compilation time to run quite long.
To combat this, ProModel will perform a pre-
translation check for path networks. This means
that the first time your model compiles, it will
check your path networks for errors. It will then
save this information.
Every subsequent time your model compiles, it
will read the saved information about your path
networks and not check the path networks for
132 Chapter 5:
Resources

Resources How to create and edit resources:

A resource is a person, piece of equipment, or • Select Resources... from the Build menu.
some other device used for one or more of the
following functions: transporting entities, assist- or...
ing in performing operations on entities at loca-
tions, performing maintenance on locations, or • Right click on the existing location and
performing maintenance on other resources. select Edit.
Resources consist of one or more units with com-
mon characteristics, such as a pool of service
technicians or a fleet of lift trucks. Resources
may be dynamic, meaning that they move along a
Typical Use of Resources
path network, or static, in which no movement The diagram below shows two types of
occurs. Resources may also have downtimes. resources: forklifts and an operator. Forklifts are
used as resources to transport entities from Loc1
Every resource has a name and a name-index
to any of the processing locations, Loc2 through
number. Logic referring to a resource, such as the
Loc6. The forklifts are dynamic resources and
GET statement, can use either the resource's
travel along the path network, Net1, explained
name, or the RES() function to refer to the
previously in “Path Networks” on page 123. The
resource. The RES() function allows a statement
using a resource name to refer to different operator inspects all parts at Loc7 and never
resources as a simulation progresses. See “Name- moves from that location. Therefore, the operator
is a static resource and does not need a path net-
Index Numbers” on page 406 and “Res()” on
work.
page 543 for more information.
Resources are defined in the Resources Editor,
accessed through the Build menu.

The remainder of this section defines the ele-

ments and the procedures necessary for specify-
ing static and dynamic resources.
 ProModel 133
User Guide

Resources Editor Resources Edit Table

The Resources Editor consists of the Resources The Resources edit table defines the characteris-
edit table and the Resource Graphics window. tics of each resource in the system. The fields of
These windows are used together to specify the this table are defined below.
characteristics of a resource.

Icon The icon selected for this resource. Icons

are selected using the Resource Graphics Win-
dow. If more than one icon is selected for the
resource, the first icon is shown here.
Name The name of the resource.

Units The number of units represented by this

resource name between 0 and 999 (or a macro). If
the entry is a numeric expression, the expression
will be evaluated at the start of the simulation
run. Consequently, the number of resource units
Resources edit table Appears along the top of
cannot be changed during the simulation run. If
the workspace with fields for specifying the name
you would like to vary the number of units of a
of each resource, the number of identical units of
resource during runtime, use downtimes to vary
a resource, the downtime characteristics of each
the number of resources available at a given time.
resource, and other important information, such
(See also “Resource Downtimes” on page 138.)
as the path network the resource uses for move-
ment.
Please note
Resource Graphics window Contains graphic
icons that may be selected to represent a resource
When you use a macro with a value of zero in the
during simulation. A resource may have more
units field, you can use SimRunner to find the
than one icon to represent different views of the
optimal number of resources needed for your
resource, or its status. This window also allows
model.
you to define multi-unit resources graphically on
the layout. Defining a resource is as simple as
selecting an icon from the Resource Graphics
window, giving the resource a name, and specify- DTs... Select this field to define any optional
ing the characteristics of the resource. downtimes for this resource. Only clock and
usage based downtimes are permitted for
resources.
Stats... The desired statistics, if any, to gather
for this resource. Statistics can be collected as a
summary report over all units of a resource, or
134 Chapter 5:
Resources

individually for each unit of a resource. The box is checked in the window, selecting a graphic
options are as follows: creates a new resource. Multiple graphics are
defined for a given resource by selecting the
•None: No statistics are gathered.
desired resource and unchecking New. This pro-
•Summary: Average utilization and activity
cedure causes a scrollable row of graphic cells to
times are recorded collectively for all units appear which are automatically and sequentially
of the resource. numbered beginning with 1. Graphics may be
•By Unit: Statistics are gathered for each added or replaced for a given resource by click-
unit individually as well as collectively. ing on the desired cell and selecting a library
Specs... Select this field to open the Resource graphic from the graphics menu.
Specifications dialog box. From here you can
By using the GRAPHIC statement in resource
assign a path network, set the resource speed, and
downtime logic, or in the case of a dynamic
define pickup and deposit times. For more infor-
resource, node logic, any of the multiple graphics
mation on the Specification dialog, see assigned to a resource may be activated during
“Resource Specifications Dialog Box” on simulation. For static resources, you may define a
page 143. second or third graphic to be used automatically
Search... If a path network has been assigned, when the resource is busy or down, respectively.
select this field to access the Work Search and
Resource graphics may be sized using the scroll
Park Search edit tables, used to define optional
bar or edited by clicking the edit button. Edit
work and park searches.
options include rotating, flipping horizontally or
Logic... If a path network has been assigned, vertically, and changing the color of the graphic.
select this field to define any optional logic to be In addition, you can specify the dimensions of the
executed whenever a resource enters or leaves a
particular path node. If you have defined a node
entry and exit logic, the logic field will show the
number of nodes where node entry and exit logic
has been defined.
Pts... If a path network has been assigned, select
this field to define resource points. Resource
points are auxiliary points where multiple
resources may appear graphically when parked or
in use at a multi-capacity node.
Notes... Enter any notes in this field, or click on
the heading button to open a larger Notes window
for entering notes.

Resource Graphics Window

The Resource Graphics Window appears when
the Resources module is opened and is used to
assign graphic symbols to resources. If the New
 ProModel 135
User Guide

resource graphic. For more information, see it may be used at more than one location or to
“Dimension” on page 318. move entities between locations.

How to define a static resource:

1. Select Resources from the Build menu. This

automatically brings up the Resources edit
table and the Resource Graphics window,
used together to define all resources in the
model.
2. Choose a graphic icon for the resource
from the Resource Graphics window.
3. Select the Add button in the Resource
Graphics window.
4. Click on the layout at the desired position
of the resource graphic.
5. Add additional resource graphics for the
same resource if desired. Every time a
resource graphic is placed on the layout for
the same resource in the edit table, a new
resource point is created.
6. Supply any optional information about the
resource, such as downtimes.
The Layout Position allows you to add or delete
resource graphics on the layout. When adding a
resource graphic to the layout, ProModel auto-
matically adds a unit and a resource point. When
Please note
deleting a resource graphic from the layout, Pro-
Model deletes the resource point but leaves the
number of units in the units field unchanged. Static resources notes:
1. When defining the static resource specifica-
tions, the default for Resource Search is Least
Static Resources Utilized. The default for Entity Search is Longest
Static resources are resources not assigned to a Waiting. You may only specify Pick-up and
path network and therefore do not visibly move. Deposit Time in the Motion box.
A static resource may be needed to perform an 2. There is not a status light for a static resource;
operation at only one location, such as an inspec- however, a second and third graphic may be
tion operator, and will appear during the entire defined for use when the resource is busy or
simulation in the same place it was defined down, respectively. If no second and third
graphically. Although a static resource is station- graphic are defined, the resource graphic
ary and does not visibly move between locations,
136 Chapter 5:
Resources

changes color to green when in use and red when 7. Supply any optional information about the
down. resource including number of units, down-
times, work and/or park searches, and node
logic in the Resources edit table.

Dynamic Resources
Dynamic resources are resources that move along Please note
an assigned path network and may transport enti-
ties between locations as a forklift would. They Dynamic resources notes:
may also need to process entities at several loca-
tions, such as an operator performing tasks at 1. When defining the resource specifications, the
more than one location. For these reasons, it is default Resource Search for dynamic resources is
usually preferable to model the resource's move- Closest Resource. The default for Entity Search is
ment using a path network. Defined properly, the Closest Entity.
resource will travel along the path network dur- 2. More than one resource can use the same path
ing the simulation run. network.

How to create a dynamic

resource:
Multiple Resource Graphics
1. Create a path network using the Path Net- ProModel allows you to define several different
work Editor.
graphic icons for the same resource. For example,
2. Select Resources from the Build menu. This you may wish to change the color of a resource
automatically brings up the Resources edit whenever it becomes unavailable due to an
table and the Resource Graphics window, unscheduled downtime. Resource graphics for
which are used together to define all dynamic resources may be changed during a sim-
resources in the model.
ulation by using the GRAPHIC statement (see
3. Choose a graphic icon for the resource “Graphic” on page 492) in either the node or
from the Resource Graphics window. downtime logic. The GRAPHIC statement for
4. Click the Specs... button to open the Spec- static resources can only be used in downtime
ifications Dialog. logic, however, any second and third graphics are
automatically used when static resources are busy
5. Assign a path network to the resource.
or down, respectively. If no second and third
6. If desired, place units of the resource on graphics are defined, the resource graphic turns
the layout by selecting the Add button in the green when in use and red when down.
Resource Graphics window and clicking on
the layout. Every time you create and place
a resource graphic on the layout for the How to assign multiple graphics to
same resource in the edit table, ProModel a resource:
creates a new resource point. See “Resource
Points” on page 147 for more information.
1. Select Resources from the Build menu.
 ProModel 137
User Guide

2. Highlight the desired resource in the Please note

Resources edit table.
3. Uncheck the New box in the Resource When changing the graphic for a resource in
Graphics window. downtime logic, or in the case of dynamic
4. Click on the next blank resource graphic resources, node logic, the number after the word
cell in the Resource Graphics window. GRAPHIC refers to the cell number in the
5. Select the desired resource icon.
Resource Graphics window as shown above. For
example the statement GRAPHIC 2 would
6. Change the color, rotation, or other change the forklift to the icon in cell number 2.
aspect of the new graphic by clicking on the The default graphic is the graphic in cell number
Edit button.
1 if none is specified. See “Graphic” on page 492
for more information.

An example of a single resource with multiple

graphics is given on the following page.
Multi-Unit Resources vs.
Multiple Resource Graphics Multiple Single-Unit Resources
Example
Multi-Unit Resources
Uncheck the
When a resource is defined as having more than
New Box
one unit, each resource unit is given a numeric
suffix by which it is identified in the output
report. For example, a resource (Res1) which has
Select the next
five units will display output statistics for
blank resource resources called Res1.1, Res1.2, . . . . Individual
graphic cell units of a resource (e.g., GET Res1.1) cannot be
requested.
Suppose you define a resource, Technician,
which has ten units. You also have ten locations
and each resource unit can only interface with
one location. For example, Technician.5 can only
work at Loc5. Since “USE Technician.5” is
invalid, you would need to use multiple single-
Select an icon for the resource unit resources instead (e.g., Technician1,
Technician2, Technician3).
This example shows a forklift with two different Multi-unit resources are intended for use when
orientations. You may define as many graphics as several resources are defined with the exact same
needed for each resource. specifications and any resource can be used at a
number of locations. For example, a computer
can be operated by one of three technicians. If
138 Chapter 5:
Resources

you did not use multi-unit resources, you would 2. Select the resource for which the down-
need to specify “USE Technician1 OR time is to be defined.
Technician2 OR Technician3,” although this can 3. Click the DTs... button from the Resources
easily be abbreviated by using a macro to repre- edit table.
sent the resource expression. When you define
4. Select the downtime basis: Clock or
three units for a single resource, Res1, you can Usage.
simply state “USE Res1” and one resource unit
will be used based on its availability. 5. Enter the required information in either the
Clock Downtime or Usage Downtime edit
table. Each of these tables is described in the
Multiple Single-Unit Resources following pages.
Multiple single-unit resources are useful when
resources have different specifications, follow
different path networks, or are used at specific
locations. If several resources have the same
Please note
specifications and travel the same path network
but can only do work or interface with specific Unlike location downtimes, multiple resource
locations, they must be defined as multiple sin- downtimes occurring within the same time frame
gle-unit resources. This is because a unit of a are processed sequentially, not concurrently.
multi-unit resource must be able to interface with However, through the use of the DTDelay func-
all locations where it is called to work. tion, concurrent downtimes can be achieved for
resources.

Resource Downtimes
Resource downtimes refer to the times when a
resource is unavailable due to scheduled events
Clock-Based Downtime
like breaks and shift changes, or unscheduled Clock-based downtimes for resources are speci-
events like illness and random failures. For fied through the Clock Downtimes edit table
scheduled events, it is much easier and more shown below. The fields of this table are defined
straightforward to define these downtimes using as follows:
the shift editor (see “Shifts & Breaks” on
page 168). Unscheduled downtimes, based on the
elapsed time of the simulation clock or resource
usage time, are defined in the Resources edit
table by clicking on the downtime heading but-
ton. Frequency The time between downtimes. This
may be a constant time as shown above, a distri-
How to define resource down- bution, or an expression.
times: First Time The time of the first downtime occur-
rence. Leave this field blank if the first occur-
1. Select Resources from the Build menu. rence is to be determined from the frequency
field.
 ProModel 139
User Guide

Priority The priority of the downtime (0-999). Disable Select YES to disable a downtime
The default priority is 99, which is the highest without removing it from the table.
non-preemptive priority.
Scheduled... Select YES if the downtime is to Usage-Based Downtime
be counted as a scheduled downtime. Select NO A usage-based downtime is a downtime based on
if the downtime is to be counted as a non-sched- how long a resources has been used, such as how
uled downtime. (All scheduled downtimes are often a forklift needs to be refueled. Usage-based
deducted from the total hours scheduled in the downtimes for resources are specified through
statistical calculations.) the Usage Downtimes edit table shown below.
List A list of the individual units of the resource Actual time in use includes any time that a
to be affected by the downtime. You may list resource is moving with an entity or is being used
individual units of the resource, specify ALL, or by an entity at a location. It also includes any
leave blank to affect all units. time a resource is being used in downtime logic
as a maintenance resource. The fields of this table
•1,2 Units 1 and 2 only are defined as follows:
•1-3,5 Units 1 through 3 and 5 only
•none You may use none to indicate that no
unit will adopt this downtime. This is use-
ful in creating a run-time interface. By
using a macro to represent the number of
Frequency The time between downtimes,
units, the user may select none as an
based on the usage time of a resource. This may
option.
be a time distribution as shown above, or an
•Macro The name of a run-time interface
expression.
macro that allows the user to define the
units to be affected by the downtime. First Time The time of the first downtime occur-
rence. Leave this field blank if the first occur-
Node This field applies only to dynamic
rence is to be determined from the frequency
resources and defines the node to which the
field.
resource will travel to go down. If no node is
entered, the resource stays at the current node. Priority The priority of the downtime (0-999).
The actual downtime will not begin until the The default priority is 99, the highest non-pre-
resource arrives at this node. Traveling to the emptive priority.
downtime node is counted statistically as time
List A list of the individual units of the resource
traveling to park.
to be affected by the downtime. You may list
Logic... Specific logic to be performed when the individual units of the resource, specify ALL, or
downtime begins, typically a WAIT statement. leave blank to affect all units.
Resources may be used to service resources that
•1,2 Units 1 and 2 only
are down if the servicing resource is static, or if
•1-3,5 Units 1 through 3 and 5 only
the servicing resource is dynamic and uses the
same network. (See the “Appendix A” on •none You may use none to indicate that no
page 587 for a list of statements valid in unit will adopt this downtime. This is use-
Resource Downtime logic.) ful in creating a run-time interface. By
using a macro to represent the number of
140 Chapter 5:
Resources

units, the user may select none as an logic (or the subroutines called from these log-
option. ics). Priorities for resource downtimes are
•Macro The name of a run-time interface assigned in the Priority field of the Clock and
macro that allows the user to define the Usage downtime edit tables. The following
units to be affected by the downtime. examples illustrate these points.
Node This field applies only to dynamic
Process Table
resources and defines the node to which the
resource will travel to go down. If no node is Entity Location Operation (min)
entered, the resource stays at the current node. EntA Loc1 Use Res 1,200 For N(3,.1)
The actual downtime does not begin until the
resource arrives at this node. Traveling to the Routing Table
downtime node is counted statistically as time
traveling to park. Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic
1 EntA Loc2 First 1 MOVE FOR 5
Logic... Specific logic to be performed when the
downtime begins, typically a WAIT statement.
Resources may be used to service resources that
are down if the servicing resource is static, or if
the servicing resource is dynamic and uses the
same network. (For a list of statements valid in When an entity using a resource is preempted by
Resource downtime logic, see the “Appendix A” either a downtime or another entity, any process-
on page 587). ing time for the preempted entity due to a WAIT
or USE statement is interrupted until the pre-
Disable Select YES to disable a downtime
empting entity or downtime releases the resource.
without removing it from the table.
If an entity is using other resources in addition to
the one preempted, the other resources remain in
Please note possession of the entity.
In the case of a resource downtime preempting
Usage-based downtimes do not accumulate. For
another resource downtime, any remaining time
example, if a downtime is preempted by an entity
delay, as well as any other downtime logic
and another downtime is scheduled to occur
remaining to be processed by the preempted
while processing the entity, only the first down-
downtime, is immediately discontinued without
time resumes after processing the entity. All oth-
resuming and the preempting downtime takes
ers are ignored.
over.

Please note
Resource Priorities and Pre-
Resource priorities and preemption notes:
emption
1. If a resource is transporting an entity, it can-
Priorities for resource requests may be assigned not be preempted by another entity or by a down-
through a GET, JOINTLY GET, or USE state- time until it drops off the current entity at the
ment in operation logic, downtime logic, or move destination location. Therefore, the resource will
 ProModel 141
User Guide

deliver the current entity and then immediately the resource when the requesting entity or down-
come under control of the preempting entity or time attempts to capture it. Downtimes below
downtime. refer to clock and usage-based downtimes only.
2. If a resource is moving but does not possess Priority values are divided into ten levels (0 to
an entity, the resource can be preempted by a 99, 100 to 199,..., 900-999), with values beyond
downtime or entity. The resource will stop at the 99 used for preempting entities or downtimes of a
next node in the path network and travel to the lower priority level.
downtime node after which the resource will go
down. To Preempt To Preempt
The Current The Current
Owner Downtime
Requesting
1 priority level 2 priority levels
Resource Shift Downtime Priori- Entity or
Another higher higher
ties Resource or
Location’s
In ProModel, you define the shift downtime pri- Downtime
orities in the Shift Assignments module. The pri-
ority for a resource to start a shift downtime and Requesting 1 priority level 1 priority level
the priority required for some other task to pre- Downtime higher higher
empt the downtime must be set in the Shift
Assignments module.
•The upper-left quadrant shows that if an
Although a resource may be in use during a shift entity tries to seize a resource currently
downtime, the scheduled hours in the statistics owned by another entity (or another
will still reflect the hours scheduled to be on resource’s or a location’s downtime), the
shift. For example, a resource goes off shift after entity must have a priority at least one
eight hours. Due to an emergency, the resource is level higher than the current entity to pre-
called back two hours later to work on a machine empt the resource.
that has gone down. The statistics will still indi- •The lower-left quadrant shows that a down-
cate that the scheduled hours for the resource are time must have a priority at least one level
eight when the resource actually spent more than higher than the entity currently owning a
eight hours in use, because the resource was resource if the resource is to be preempted.
scheduled to work only eight hours. The
•The upper-right quadrant shows that an
resource's total usage time, however, will still
entity must have a priority at least 2 levels
indicate the additional time spent working on the
higher than the current downtime priority
downed machine.
to preempt a downed resource.
•The lower-right quadrant shows that a pre-
Resource Preemption Matrix empting downtime must have a priority at
least one level higher than the current
The following Preemption Matrix shows the pos- downtime to preempt it.
sibilities of entities and downtimes preempting
each other in the use of a resource. “Current” The following graphics demonstrate basic pre-
refers to the entity or downtime in possession of emption concepts.
142 Chapter 5:
Resources

Preemptive DT vs DT Total
Non-preemptive DT vs. Entity
Downtime:
T1 to T3
DT 1 Entity

Discontinue
Scheduled DT
DT 2
Actual

Time
Time
T1 T2 T3 T4
T1 T2 T3 T4

DT 2 priority at least 1 level higher DT 2 priority NOT at least 1 level

than DT 1 priority higher than entity 1 priority

Non-preemptive DT vs. DT
Preemptive DT vs. Entity
DT 1

Entity
Scheduled DT 2

Actual DT 2

DT
Time
Time
T1 T2 T3 T4
T1 T2 T3 T4
DT 2 priority NOT at least 1 level higher than
DT 1 priority
DT priority at least 1 level higher than
entity priority
 ProModel 143
User Guide

each resource in the system. Many of the items

Preemptive Entity vs. Entity pertain only to dynamic resources (i.e., resources
with path networks). If the resource is static (i.e.,
not assigned to a path network) many of the
options will be disabled. The Resource Specifica-
Ent 1
tions dialog box includes the following fields:

Ent 2
Time

T1 T2 T3 T4

Ent 2 priority at least 1 level higher

than Ent 1 priority
Path Network The name of the path network
along which the resource travels. This should be
“none” for a static resource.
Preemptive Entity vs. DT Home If a path network has been assigned, this
is the name of the home node where the resource
is positioned at the beginning of the simulation.
DT

Please note

To have resources start at other nodes in the net-

work, define a Park Search from the home node
Entity which causes the resource unit or units to be
Time
positioned at the nodes identified in the park
search.
T1 T2 T3 T4

Entity priority at least 2 levels higher

than DT priority Return Home If Idle If a path network has been
assigned, check this box to return the resource to
the home node when no other tasks are waiting to
Resource Specifications Dialog be performed and no park searches are defined.
Box Off Shift If the resource is assigned to a path net-
The Specifications dialog box contains informa- work and shift, this is the node to which the
tion for defining the operating characteristics of resource travels to go off shift.
144 Chapter 5:
Resources

Break If the resource is assigned to a path net- Please note

work and shift, this is the node to which the
resource travels to go on break. Entities look for resources to move them after
Resource Search When an entity that needs a they capture a location. If several entities are
resource must select between several available waiting to be transported to one location by a
resource units, it follows this rule. This only resource and you want the entity with the mini-
applies to multi-unit resources. The following mum attribute value to arrive next at the location,
rules may be specified: you must use the Locations edit table to define the
rule at the location for incoming entities as mini-
•Closest Resource mum attribute value. The Closest entity rule
•Least Utilized Resource
applies to dynamic resources only.
•Longest Idle Resource

If the path network that the dynamic resource is

Please note using is time-based, the closest entity is the entity
with the least number of nodes from the resource.
For a non-passing path network, only the Closest If the path network is defined by speed and dis-
Resource rule is allowed since the other rules tance, the closest entity is the entity the shortest
could cause the network to jam. Static resources distance from the resource.
only allow Least Utilized and Longest Idle rules
since there is no traveling to be done.

Motion If a path network has been assigned, the

motion fields define the speeds and times
Entity Search When two or more entities of required for basic resource movement and con-
equal priority request a resource at the same time, tain the following information:
the resource follows this rule to choose the one to
•Speed traveling empty/full*
service. The resource first checks for any entities
•Acceleration rate*
waiting at locations listed in a work search before •Deceleration rate*
defaulting to this rule and, if an exclusive work •Pickup time
search has been defined, the default entity search •Deposit time
rule is not used. The following rules may be spec-
ified:
Please note
•Longest waiting entity (with highest prior-
ity)
Resource specification notes:
•Closest entity (with highest priority)
•Entity with the minimum value of a speci- 1. The units to the side of these fields change
fied attribute automatically from feet to meters (and vice-
•Entity with the maximum value of a spec- versa) depending on the default distance units
ified attribute selected in the General Information dialog box.
2. Pickup and deposit times for resources are
included as transit time in the output statistics.
 ProModel 145
User Guide

Resource Search Routines Please note

Search routines refer to the instructions a
A lockup can occur in the model if you define a
dynamic resource will follow after being freed at
park search at the home node and specify Return
a path node where a search routine was defined.
Home If Idle in the Resource Specifications.
Two types of search routines may be specified.
Work Search A list of locations where entities
may be waiting for the resource. Work searches
may be either exclusive or non-exclusive. Work Search Edit Table
•Use exclusive work searches to limit the Work searches are defined for dynamic resources
locations a resource may search for work. through the Work Search edit table shown below.
An exclusive work search will cause the If several resources share the same path network,
resource to search only the locations in the each resource must have its own work search
list. If no work is found at any of the listed defined (i.e., resources cannot share work
locations, the resource will either park at a searches).
node listed in its park search, go to its
home node, or simply become idle until
work is available at one of the locations in
the exclusive work search list.
•Use non-exclusive work searches to have a
resource check for work at certain loca-
tions first, and then move on to others. A
non-exclusive work search will cause the
resource to search the listed locations first The fields of the Work Search edit table are
and then resort to the default search rule defined as follows:
listed in the Resource Search section of the
Specifications dialog box (e.g., oldest Node The node for which the work search is
waiting entity, closest waiting entity). defined.
Park Search Park searches are typically used to Type Exclusive or non-exclusive work search.
get a resource off a main path segment, or send See “Resource Search Routines” on page 145 for
the resource to the next most likely place work an explanation of exclusive and non-exclusive
will become available. A park search is a list of work searches.
nodes to which a resource may be sent to park if
Location List A list of locations to be searched
no work is waiting at either the work or default
for waiting entities when the resource becomes
search locations.
available.
In the edit table above, work searches have been
defined at each location where the forklift deliv-
ers entities. The purpose of the work search in
this example is to force the forklifts to give prior-
ity to entities waiting to be delivered to process-
ing locations before taking an entity to a non-
146 Chapter 5:
Resources

processing location. This helps to keep the pro- Node Logic Editor
cessing locations busy at all times.
The Node Logic edit table is used to define spe-
cial logic for a dynamic resource to perform upon
Park Search Edit Table
entering or exiting a node. Node logic may be
Park searches are defined for dynamic resources defined for any dynamic resource at any node.
through the Park Search edit table shown next. If Typical uses of node logic are:
several resources share the same path network,
•Changing a resource graphic using the
each resource must have its own park search
defined (i.e., resources cannot share park GRAPHIC statement
searches). •Controlling traffic using WAIT UNTIL
statements
•Gathering special statistics on resource
movement

The fields of the Park Search edit table are

defined as follows: The fields of the Node Logic edit table are
defined as follows:
Node The node for which the park search is
defined. Node The entry or departure node where the
resource will process the logic.
Parking Node List A list of nodes to which a
resource may be sent to park. The resource will Entry Logic Logic to be executed when a
look for available capacity at the first node in the resource enters the node.
list (Node capacity is defined in the Path Net-
Exit Logic Logic to be executed when a resource
works edit table in the Nodes window). If there is
leaves the node.
no capacity at that node, the resource will look to
the second node in the list and so on until a node The table above was taken from the example con-
with capacity is found. If no capacity is found at tained on the following pages.
any node in the list, the resource will remain
where it is until capacity becomes available at
one of the nodes in the list.
In the table above, a park search has been defined
for each of the internal path nodes where a fork-
lift might deliver an entity and then be in the way
if it has nothing else to do. Specifically, if a fork-
lift makes a delivery and then becomes available
at node N3, it will park at node N4. From node
N5 it will park at node N1, and from node N6 it
will park at node N7.
 ProModel 147
User Guide

Node Logic Example zone. The node logic for node N5 is identical to
that for node N2.

Please note

Suppose that for safety considerations we desire This example follows the rule that allows the
to keep track of the number of times both forklifts LAST() function to be used only in Node Entry
simultaneously enter a particular zone of the net- Logic, while the NEXT() function may be used
work consisting of branches N2 to N3, N3 to N4, only in Node Exit Logic. (See “Resource-Specific
and N3 to N5. (It is thought that this zone may be System Functions” on page 435).
particularly susceptible to accidents due to heavy
traffic.) We could accomplish this using node
logic at the entry and exit points of the zone.
Resource Points
The only way to enter or exit the zone is through
nodes N2 and N5. To track the number of fork- For a static resource, resource points are the lay-
lifts currently in the zone, we increment and dec- out coordinates of the resource graphics. For
rement a variable called Current. Each time a dynamic resources, resource points are auxiliary
forklift leaves node N2 or N5 en-route to node points where multiple resources may appear
N3 we increment variable Current. Each time a graphically when in use or parked at a multi-
forklift enters node N2 or N5 enroute from N3 we capacity node. When a resource arrives at a node,
decrement variable Current. Finally, each time it will appear on that node unless a resource point
we increment the variable Current, we check to is defined for that resource at that node. The
see if Current > 1. If so, we increment a second resource will appear on the resource point when it
variable called Total to record an occurrence of arrives to park or perform a task at a particular
both forklifts in the zone at the same time. node. Resource points prevent resources from
appearing on top of each other. In the case of
The following windows show the entry and exit
dynamic resources, resource points are defined in
logic for node N2, representing one entry to the
terms of an offset from the node to which they are
connected. Resource points are defined in terms
of an offset from the upper left corner of the lay-
out for static resources.
The following Resource Points edit table shows
that node N8 has two resource points attached to
148 Chapter 5:
Resources

it. The horizontal offset is 0 units for each point. Please note
The vertical offset is 13 units both up and down
from the node position. (For resource points posi- Resource points are automatically added to the
tive distances are up and to the right.) home node for each resource graphic placed on
the layout.

How to delete resource points:

1. Bring up the Resource Points edit table by

clicking on the Pts... heading button in the
Resources edit table.
2. Select the point to be deleted by highlight-
Whenever a forklift arrives or parks at node N8, ing the edit table record or clicking on the
resource point in the layout. (If you click on
it will automatically go to one of the two resource
the point to select it, you must then reacti-
points. This prevents the forklifts from graphi- vate the Resource Points window by clicking
cally appearing on top of each other if they are on the title bar of the table.)
both at node N8 simultaneously.
3. Select Delete from the Edit menu.

How to add resource points to a

node:
How to move resource points:
1. Select Resources from the Build menu.
2. Click on the resource points heading but- 1. Bring up the Resource Points edit table by
ton, Pts.... clicking on the Pts... heading button from the
Resources edit table.
3. Click on the node for which a resource
point is to be added. 2. Drag the resource point to a new location
with the mouse.
4. Click on the layout where the resource
point is to appear.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each resource
point to be added.
 ProModel 149
User Guide

Processing Using the Processing Editor

Processing defines the routing of entities through This discussion covers the procedures used to
the system and the operations that take place at define operations and routings using the Process-
each location they enter. Once entities have ing Editor. As with most other procedures in Pro-
entered the system, as defined in the Arrivals Model, they may be performed graphically using
table, processing specifies everything that hap- the mouse, or manually by typing the information
pens to them until they exit the system. directly in the edit tables.

Processing is defined in the Processing Editor, Before you begin to specify the processing logic,
which is accessed through the Build menu. This define all locations and entities to be referenced
section first describes how to create simple pro- in the processing. This is done through the Loca-
cesses, then explains each feature of the Process- tion and Entity Editors. If you reference a loca-
ing Editor. tion or an entity that has not yet been defined in a
location or entity field, you will be prompted to
add that location or entity to the respective loca-
tion or entity list. However, no graphic gets auto-
matically assigned to the location or entity.
The easiest way to define the processing logic is
to define the routing or flow sequence using the
tools in the Processing Tools window, which
appears in the lower left corner of the Processing
Editor. These tools have been designed to allow
you to easily and rapidly define the flow of enti-
ties through the system. It is also a good idea to
define the routing rule for each routing as it is
created. Once you have defined the from-to rela-
tionships between locations for each entity, fill in
the details of the operation and move logic for
each location. This is typically done by typing the
logic in the operation or move logic column man-
ually or by using the Logic Builder, documented
How to create and edit process at the end of this section.
routings: Defining processes graphically in ProModel
requires interaction with all four process editing
• Select Processing from the Build menu. windows.
•Process Edit Table
or... •Routing Edit Table
•Tools Window
• Right click on the existing process routing •Layout Window
and select Edit.
150 Chapter 5:
Processing

Before discussing the procedures for using these in the edit field at the top of the list—this entity
windows interactively, let us look briefly at a will come into the location, it is not the entity
process flowchart of a simple model. that results from the process.
2. Select the desired editing mode: New Pro-
Example Model cess or Add Routing.
3. Click on the first location where the entity
Two entity types, EntA and EntB, arrive at Loca-
will process. A rubber-banding routing line
tions 1A and 1B, respectively, according to some
appears. If you select Add Routing, the rub-
specified arrival logic. After a short preparation ber-banding routing arrow automatically
time, both entities are routed to Location 2 where appears from the current location.
1 EntB is joined to 1 EntA. At this point the
4. To choose a different entity as the output
resulting entity, EntC, is sent to Location 3 for
entity, select the desired output entity in the
consolidation. Twelve EntC's are accumulated at
tools window.
Location 3 and processed together for 3.0 min-
utes. Then they exit the system. 5. Click the destination location.

Process Flow Chart

Please note
EntA @ Loc1A
EntA 1.0 min 1
EntA
In the example below, we first clicked on Loc1A
EntA @ Loc2 EntC @ Loc3
and then on Loc2. The records in the Process and
Join 1
N(3.4,.2)
1
EntC
Accum 12 1
3.0 min
Routing edit tables were entered automatically.

EntB @ Loc1B
EntB
EntB 1.0 min 1 Exit

Arrival Processing
Logic Logic

In the flowchart above, each block represents a

process record for an entity at a location. The
lower left portion of a block specifies the opera-
tion(s) performed on the entity at the location.
The lower right portion of the block represents
the number of entities output to the next location.

Defining Entity Processing

How to define entity processing

graphically:
6. Repeat this process until the flow of entities
has been completely defined except for exit-
1. Select an entity from the entity list in the ing the system.
Tools window. The selected entity will appear
 ProModel 151
User Guide

7. From the final processing location route an shown in their default arrangement, you may
entity to Exit by clicking on the “Route to Exit” arrange them as desired.
button in the Tools window.
8. Once all routings have been defined,
enter the processing logic in the operation
field of the Process edit table.

Process Edit Table Appears in the upper left

corner of the workspace and defines the opera-
tions performed for all entities at all locations.
Routing Edit Table Appears in the upper right
corner of the workspace and controls the destina-
tion of entities that have finished at the location.
The figure above shows the completed routings
for the example model. Note that the operations Tools Window Appears in the lower left corner
(for example, Join 1 EntB) have been entered of the workspace and is used for graphically
manually in the operation column. These opera- defining operations and routings.
tions could also have been entered by way of the Layout Window Appears in the lower right cor-
Logic Builder, documented at the end of this sec- ner of the workspace and shows each location
tion. with all from-to routings.

Processing Editor Process Edit Table

The Processing Editor consists of four windows The Process edit table is used to create operation
that appear simultaneously, as shown in the fol- logic for each entity type at each location in the
lowing diagram. Although the windows are system. Processes for entities at locations may be
in any order in the edit table, but for the sake of
organization you should group them by entity
type or location. The only time the order of pro-
cesses is significant is when the same entity is
routed multiple times through the same location,
in which case, later processes must appear some-
152 Chapter 5:
Processing

where after earlier processes. When searching for can also click on an entity name and select OK to
the next process, ProModel always searches for- place it in the table.
ward in the process list first, and then starts from
the beginning of the list.

Heading
Buttons

Current Entity, Location, and Operation

are highlighted. The entity list box defaults to the current field
entity, the last entity selected, or the first entity
An explanation of each field of the Process edit defined.
table is contained on the following pages. Location The location where the process
Entity The entity type for which the process is occurs.
defined. If all entities at the same location Click on the heading button to bring up the Loca-
undergo the same operation or have the same tions selection box from which you may choose a
routing, the reserved word ALL may be entered location.
in this field. (See discussion on ALL later in this
section.) If an entity not previously defined is
entered in this field, ProModel will ask if it
should create the new entity type.
Click on the heading button to bring up the Enti-
ties selection box. If this is a preemption process
record, check the box (see “Preemption Process
Logic” on page 300) and double click on an
entity to automatically place it in the table. You

The location list box defaults to the current loca-

tion, the last location selected, or the first location
defined.
Specifying ALL in the Location field and omit-
ting any routing defines a process for an entity at
all locations previously specified as routing desti-
 ProModel 153
User Guide

nations for the entity. Because there is no routing, operations performed on other entities at the
after the entity finishes that process, ProModel same location.
will search ahead in the Process edit table for a
process for the entity specific to the actual loca-
tion. The keyword ALL in the Location field is
particularly useful when entities route to different
locations having the same operations and then
route to a common destination. In most other
instances, it is recommended that a subroutine or
macro be used to define identical operations.
Operation Operation logic is optional, but typ-
ically contains at least a WAIT statement for the
amount of time the entity should spend at the
location. If the entity needs a resource to process
or to be combined in some way with other enti- For more information see “Operation Logic” on
ties, that would be specified here as well. In fact, page 299.
anything that needs to happen to the entity at the
location should be specified here, except for any Using the “ALL” Entity Type
information specified in the entity's routing.
The reserved word ALL may be entered as the
Statements can be typed directly into the opera- processing entity if all entity types at that location
tion field, or inside a larger logic window after have the same operation. ALL may also be used
double clicking in the field or clicking on the in the output field of the routing if all entity types
Operation button. Alternatively, the Logic at that location have the same routing. If a pro-
Builder can help build logic and is accessed by cess record for a location using ALL as the entity
clicking the right mouse button inside the opera- follows several process records for the same loca-
tion field or logic window. All of the statements, tion using specific entity names, and each process
functions, and distributions available in the oper- record has a defined routing, the ALL process is
ation field are discussed in detail, including interpreted to mean ALL of the rest of the enti-
examples, in “Statements and Functions” on ties. The following examples show how ALL
page 439. may be used in different situations.
Each entity performs the operation steps defined
1.All entities have a common operation
for it at a particular location, independent of other
and a common routing.
To define a common operation and routing for all
entity types at a location, simply enter ALL for
both the process entity name and the output entity
name.
In the following example three entity types,
EntA, EntB, and EntC, are all sent to a packing
station for packaging. The packing time is .5 min-
utes and the entities move on to a shipping sta-
154 Chapter 5:
Processing

tion. Though this is a simple example, it shows Process Table

how one process and routing record is used for all
Entity Location Operation (min)
entity types. In contrast, the previous operations
ALL Packaging WAIT .5
at Loc1, Loc2, and Loc3 require separate process
EntA Packaging
and routing records for EntA, EntB, and EntC.
EntB Packaging
EntC Packaging
Process Table
Entity Location Operation (min) Routing Table
EntA Loc1 WAIT N(5,.3)
Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic
EntB Loc2 WAIT U(3,.2)
EntC Loc3 WAIT T(3,5,9)
1 EntA Ship1 FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1
ALL Packaging WAIT .5
1 EntB Ship2 FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1
1 EntC Ship3 FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1
Routing Table
If only the destination is different, but move
Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic times and output quantities are identical, an alter-
1 EntA Packaging FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1
native method is to assign each entity an attribute
1 EntB Packaging FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1
that corresponds to the destination's name-index
1 EntC Packaging FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1
number and then route with the LOC() function
1 ALL Shipping FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1
as shown in the following example.
2.All entities have common operations
Process Table
but individual routings.
To define common operations but individual Entity Location Operation (min)
routings, use ALL as the process entity and ALL Packaging WAIT .5
define the common process, but do not define any
routings. Then define individual processes for Routing Table
each entity type at the common location, with a Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic
blank operation field and the desired routing. 1 ALL Loc(Att1) FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1

3.All entities have a common routing but

individual operations.
To define individual operations along with a
common routing for all entity types at a location,
define operations for each entity, but do not
define any routings. Then define a process record
for ALL at this location and define the common
routing for all entity types.
 ProModel 155
User Guide

Process Table table to the Process edit table (i.e., all routings
that appear in the routing edit table apply to the
Entity Location Operation (min)
currently highlighted process), though the two
EntA Loc1 WAIT .4
tables appear side by side. Not all process
EntB Loc1 WAIT .5
records need to have a corresponding routing. If
EntC Loc1 WAIT .6
the routing is omitted, ProModel will search for-
ALL Loc1
ward in the Process edit table for another process
for that entity at that location. So an entity's com-
Routing Table
plete processing at a location could be broken
Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic into several records. In that case, only the last
process would have a routing. If no routing is
defined for at least one of the process records for
a given entity and location, an error occurs.
1 ALL Packaging FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1
Another situation that does not require routing is
Alternatively, you can assign an attribute to each when an entity changes its name at a location
entity which represents the processing time or after a RENAME AS or SPLIT AS statement.
some other entity-specific parameter. Then use Any time during processing logic that an entity
the attribute as the processing time, or call a sub- changes its name, ProModel searches forward in
routine and pass the attribute as a parameter for the Processing edit table until it finds a process
entity-specific processing. for the new name at the same location. For exam-
ple, if the identity of an entity is changed through
In the following example, the test time for each
a RENAME AS statement in the operation logic,
entity type is different. This time is stored in an
then no routing block will apply to the old entity.
attribute, Oper_Time. The attribute is then listed
Instead, the newly named entity will be routed by
on a line in the operation logic (with a WAIT
the process for the new name. (See “Rename” on
statement) to signify an operation time. Once the
test time for each entity is completed, the entities page 541).
are all routed to a packaging location.

Process Table
Entity Location Operation (min)
ALL Test WAIT Oper_Time
The fields of the Routing edit table are as fol-
Routing Table lows:
Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic Blk This field contains the block number for the
1 ALL Packaging FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1 current routing block. A routing block consists of
one or more alternative routings from which one
is selected based on the block rule (e.g., a list of
Routing Edit Table routings where one is selected based on the most
The Routing edit table defines the outputs for available capacity). Since all of the routings
each process record defined in the Process edit using the same rule are part of the same block,
table. The Routing edit table is really just a sub- only the first line of each routing block contains a
156 Chapter 5:
Processing

route block number. If no routing blocks have sequentially while split entities get processed
been referenced explicitly in the operation logic concurrently.
(for example “ROUTE n”), all routing blocks
If the reserved word ALL was used as the incom-
will be executed in sequence upon completion of
ing entity type for this process, it may also be
the operation logic (See “Route” on page 552).
entered here. Otherwise, every entity entering the
Multiple routing blocks are processed sequen-
location will change to the specified output
tially with the next block being processed when
entity. (See the discussion on using ALL in the
all of the entities in the previous block have
Entities section.)
begun executing any move logic defined. To
change the routing block number or add a new
routing block, see the discussion on the Routing
Rule dialog box later in this section.
The following example shows a process record
with two separate routing blocks. Note that both
routings will execute upon completion of the
operation time because no ROUTE statement has
been specified. One EntB gets routed to Loc2 and
one EntC gets routed to Loc3.

Process Table
Entity Location Operation (min) The entity list box defaults to the current field
EntA Loc1 WAIT N(5,.3) entity, the last entity selected, or the first entity
defined.
Routing Table
To better anticipate the entity entry likely to be
Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic made, the entity highlighted in the list box
1 EntB Loc2 FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 1 defaults first to the current field entity, then to the
2 EntC Loc3 FIRST 1 MOVE FOR 2 last entity selected, and finally to the first entity
Output If a routing is defined, the name of the defined.
entity resulting from the operation must be The example below shows how an incoming
entered here. This name may be the same as the entity, EntA, changes identity and becomes an
entity that entered, or it may be another name, or EntB upon exiting location Loc1. This is done by
even several names, each on a different line. simply specifying the new entity name as the out-
Using another name works much like a put entity.
RENAME-AS statement, except that the entity is
routed according to the routing block instead of
being processed further at the same location.
Using several names on different lines is similar
to having a SPLIT AS statement in conjunction
with a RENAME-AS statement. The difference is
that multiple routing blocks are processed
 ProModel 157
User Guide

Process Table TINUE, and IF EMPTY routings. (See “Loc()”

on page 511 for more information.)
Entity Location Operation (min)
EntA Loc1 WAIT T(2,5,8) Rule This field defines the rule for selecting the
route destination. An output quantity may also be
Routing Table specified as part of the rule. This quantity works
much like the SPLIT AS statement. (See the fol-
Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic lowing discussion on the Routing Rule dialog
1 EntB Loc2 FIRST MOVE FOR 1 box.) To open the Routing Rule Dialog box, dou-
Destination This is the location to which enti- ble click in the field or click in the field and then
ties are to move after the operation is complete. on the heading button.
Optionally, the destination may be followed by a Move Logic The Move Logic window allows
comma and a routing priority. If no priority is you to define the method of movement as well as
specified, the default is zero. any other logic to be executed between the time
The location name may be typed directly in the the next location is claimed for routing to the
field, or selected by either clicking in the field time the entity arrives, but not yet enters, the next
and then on the heading button, or double click- location. To open the Move Logic window, dou-
ing in the field. The resulting dialog box looks ble click in the field or click the heading button.
like this: This window allows you to manually edit the
logic or click on the Build button to use the Logic
Builder. It also provides other convenient buttons
for editing and printing the move logic. For sin-
gle move statements it is easiest to right click in
the move field to open the Logic Builder. If left
blank, it is assumed that no time, resources, or
path networks are needed to make the move. (See
“Routing Move Logic” on page 159.)

Routing Rule Dialog Box

The Routing Rule dialog box provides methods
for selecting an entity's destination after finishing
a process. The Rule heading button in the Rout-
Instead of entering a location name, you may use ing edit table, brings up the Routing Rule dialog
the LOC() function which returns the location
name corresponding to the index designated by
an expression. For example, LOC(5) routes to the
fifth location defined or the fifth record in the
location edit table. You can also specify variable
destinations such as LOC(Att4). However, the
LOC() function may not be used in conjunction
with the BY TURN, UNTIL FULL, CON-
158 Chapter 5:
Processing

box. The fields of this dialog box are defined in AS statement, dividing the cost statistics between
the following example. the split members and resetting all time statistics
to zero.

Please note

A run-time error occurs if you fail to route one

(and only one) main entity for a process. If no
routing block executes for the main entity, a “No
routing defined for main entity” error occurs. If
more than one route block executes for the main
entity, a “Main entity already routed” error
occurs.

Quantity The number of entities resulting from

Start new block Check this box to signal the
this routing block. The default is one. Several
beginning of a new routing block. Checking this
entities of the same name can be created from a
box will place a number in the Blk field for that
single entity, much like a split AS statement, by
record.
entering a number greater than one. Each of the
New Entity Check Box In order to let you desig- new entities then processes the routing block one
nate whether a routing block applies to the main entity at a time. For example, suppose an entity
entity or if you wish to create a new entity, Pro- called mail_bag enters a location and is separated
Model includes a New Entity check box in the into 30 individual pieces of mail, called Letters.
routing rule dialog. By default, ProModel does Enter 30 as the quantity and Letter as the output
not check the first routing block for a process entity, as in the example below. Only the first line
record but does check subsequent blocks unless in a routing block can specify a quantity.
they share the same input and output name. If you
check the New Entity box, an asterisk (*) appears Process Table
after the block number in the block column of the
routing table. Entity Location Operation (min)
mail_bag Loc1 WAIT T(2,5,8)
If you check the new entity box, the entity using
the routing block will begin routing with new Routing Table
cost and time statistics. If the new entity box
remains unchecked, ProModel assumes the entity Blk Output Destination Rule Move Logic
routing from this block is a main entity (the par- 1 Letter Loc2 FIRST 10 MOVE FOR 1
ent entity), carrying with it all cost and time sta- Routing Rules Choose the rule for selecting the
tistics. next location. Only one rule may be chosen for
If the new entity field remains unchecked and each routing line. Note that the last three routing
you enter a quantity field value greater than 1, rules, alternate, backup and dependent, may not
ProModel behaves just as it does with a SPLIT be chosen as the start of a new routing block.
 ProModel 159
User Guide

Note also that no more than one of the other rules more information on “Routing Move Logic” on
can appear in a single block (e.g., you cannot mix page 159.
a First Available rule and a Most Available rule
in the same block).
Processing Tools
For exact syntax and examples of each routing
rule, see “Routing Rules” on page 415. The Tools window provides graphical aids that
may be used to define processing records and
routing records. It is also used to define the
Routing Move Logic graphical paths that entities follow when moving
The Move Logic window allows you to define without a path network between locations.
the method of movement as well as any other
The Tools window, which appears along with the
logic to be executed prior to or after the move
other Processing windows, can define processing
actually takes place.
in one of two modes, New Process or Add Rout-
Once the route condition or rule has been satis- ing. Each is explained next. Additionally, Find
fied for allowing an entity to route to a particular Process Mode is available. To select a mode,
location, the move logic is immediately executed. click on the desired button. Each of the modes is
The entity does not actually leave the current described on the next page.
location until a move related statement (MOVE
FOR, MOVE ON, MOVE WITH) is executed or
the move logic is completed, whichever happens
first. This allows the entity to get one or more Editing Mode
resources, wait additional time, or wait until a
condition is satisfied before actually leaving the
location.
Any statements encountered in the move logic Current Entity
after the move related statement are executed
after the move is complete but before the entity
actually enters the next location. This is often
useful for freeing multiple resources that may
have been used to transport the entity.
When defining exit logic, such as incrementing a Routing Options
variable used to track the number of exits from a
location, it can generally go before the move
statement unless a MOVE WITH statement is
used and the entity must capture the resource
before making the move. In this situation, a GET
statement should be specified first to get the In addition to option buttons (New Process, Add
resource. Then the exit logic may be specified Routing, or Find Process) for the process editing
followed by the MOVE WITH statement. mode, the Tools window contains a list of
defined entities as well as the reserved word ALL
Any delay occurring as a result of move logic is to represent all entity types. The entity in Pro-
reported as part of the entity’s move time. For cessing Tools applies to either the process or
160 Chapter 5:
Processing

routing entity, depending on what is currently How to delete a process or routing

being defined. record:

New Process Mode 1. Click inside the desired record in the Pro-
cess or Routing edit table.
New Process Mode is used to create a new pro-
cess record. A new process is automatically cre- 2. Select Delete from the Edit menu.
ated for the selected entity each time you click on
a location.
This mode should be used if you want to create a Editing a Routing Path
process for a particular entity at a location. You
may even create multiple processes for the same Once a routing path has been defined you may
entity and location if you want to re-route an edit the path (regardless of the current mode) by
entity through the same location more than once clicking anywhere on the routing path. This
for additional operations. Once a new process is selects the path and allows you to change the
created, the mode automatically changes to Add source or destination of the routing by dragging
Routing mode to enable a routing to be defined the beginning or end of the path to a new loca-
for the process. tion. It also allows you to move any intermediate
joint in the path to change the shape. You may
also click on a path with the right mouse button to
How to define a new process create or delete a joint.
using the Tools window:
If a process is already defined and a location is
moved while in the Location module, the con-
1. Depress the New Process button.
necting leg of any routing lines will also move.
2. Select the entity for which a new process is
to be defined from the Tools window.
Add Routing Mode
3. Click on the location where the entity will
be processed in the layout window. A new Add Routing Mode is used to create multiple
process record is created in the edit table. routings for a single process record. Suppose an
The mode is automatically switched to Add entity, EntA, can travel to one of three locations
Routing mode and a rubber banding line depending on which is available first. Selecting
appears that connects the mouse pointer to the New Process mode and then defining the
the location. entity process causes the entity to travel from one
4. If a different entity is to be output from the location to another location. Selecting Add Rout-
process, select it from the Tools window. ing mode afterwards allows you to define a dif-
ferent destination location within the same
5. Click on the destination location. A new
routing record appears in the edit table and routing block.
the mode switches back to New Process
mode. How to add additional routings to
an existing routing block:

1. Select the process record in the Process

edit table that needs an additional routing
 ProModel 161
User Guide

line (you may use the Find Process button to 5. Click the Route to Exit button in the tools
locate the process record). dialog.
2. If you wish to insert the routing record
rather than simply append the record to the
current routing list, highlight the routing
record where the routing is to be inserted and Find Process Mode
choose Insert from the Edit menu. To find a previously created process for an entity
3. Select the Add Routing button from the type at a certain location, use Find Process mode.
Tools window. A rubber-banding line is cre-
ated.
How to find a process for an entity
4. Select the entity in the Tools window to be at a location:
output in this routing.
5. Click on the desired destination location. 1. Click on the Find Process button.
This creates a new routing record in the Rout-
ing edit table. 2. Click on the desired entity type.
3. Click on the desired location. The first pro-
cess found for that entity type at the location
will be highlighted in the Edit window.
Please note

To cancel a routing once a rubber-banding line

This option always searches forward in the pro-
appears, click on the New Process button or click
cess list. By clearing the entity field in the tools
on the originating location.
window, the next process for any entity at the
location selected is found. If multiple process
records exist for the same entity and location, the
edit table indexes forward to the next process
How to route a current entity to record each time you click on the location.
exit:
View Routing
1. Click the Add Routing button.
The View Routing button in the Processing Tools
2. From the Tools window, select the entity for
which you want to define a new process. window causes the process record currently high-
lighted in the edit table to become centered on the
3. Click the Locations button in the process layout.
record dialog and select the location from
which the entity will exit the system. ProModel
creates a new process record in the edit Snap Lines to Border
table and displays a rubber-banding line
When you check this option, ProModel snaps the
from the selected location.
routing lines to the location’s bounding area
4. Add joints as needed to define the exit rather than a specific position on the graphic.
path.
162 Chapter 5:
Processing

Show Only Current Entity

When you highlight an entity in the list box,
checking this option will show only those rout-
ings associated with the entity.
 ProModel 163
User Guide

Arrivals edit table contains the specifications of each

arrival to the system and appears across the top of
Any time new entities are introduced into the sys- the screen. The Tools window contains tools for
tem, it is called an arrival. An arrival record is defining arrivals graphically and appears at the
defined by specifying the following information: bottom left corner of the screen. The Layout win-
dow appears in the lower right corner of the
•Number of new entities per arrival
workspace.
•Frequency of the arrivals
•Location of the arrival
•Time of the first arrival
•Total occurrences of the arrival
Any quantity of any entity type can be defined as
an arrival for a location. The frequency of arriv-
als can be defined as either a distribution or as an
arrival pattern which cyclically repeats over time.

Arrivals Edit Table

The Arrivals edit table lists all scheduled entity
arrivals to the system. The various fields are
explained next.

Entity The name of the arriving entity.

Location The name of the location where the

How to edit arrivals entity is to arrive.
Qty each... The number (1 to 999999) of enti-
• Select Arrivals from the Build menu.
ties to arrive at each arrival time interval. Any
valid expression may be entered here except for
attributes and non-general system functions. This
Arrivals Editor field is evaluated throughout the simulation run
and will change if the result of the expression
The Arrivals Editor consists of three windows changes.
that appear on the screen together. The Arrivals
164 Chapter 5:
Arrivals

To fill a location to capacity at every arrival time, Disable Set this field to YES or NO if you want
use the keyword INFINITE, abbreviated INF. to temporarily disable this arrival without delet-
ing it. This is useful when debugging a model and
If you have previously created an arrival cycle
for verification purposes where you want to fol-
and want to use it for this arrival, enter the name
low a single entity through the system.
of the arrival cycle followed optionally by a
quantity. You may also click on the Qty each...
heading button to select from the list of defined Arrivals edit table notes:
cycles. See the section on Arrival Cycles for
more information about defining cycles. 1. When several different entity types are sched-
First Time This option allows you to dynamically uled to arrive at a location simultaneously, they
vary the time of the first arrival to your model. will arrive in the order they are listed in the
You may define scheduled arrivals to occur at Arrivals table. To have them alternate their
given intervals (e.g., appointments) or use an arrivals, enter a 1 in the “Qty each” field and the
arrival cycle to define random arrivals over a total entry quantity in the “Occurrences” field.
period of time (this value is the start time for the 2. Arrivals defined through an external arrival
first cycle). ProModel evaluates this field only at file will be appended to the arrival list. There-
the beginning of the simulation. fore, if an external arrival file is the only source
Occurrences The number of times per simula- of arrivals, the Arrival edit table may be left
tion run that ProModel will generate arrivals (1 - blank. See the section on External Files for more
999999). Entering the reserved word INFINITE information on arrival files.
(abbreviated INF) will cause ProModel to send 3. If the capacity of the location is insufficient to
the specified number of arrivals at every arrival hold all the arriving entities, the excess entities
time without limit. This value may be any expres- are destroyed. Therefore, the arrival location
sion and is evaluated only at the beginning of the should have a capacity at least equal to the “Qty
simulation. If an arrival cycle is used, this is the each” in the Arrivals edit table. If more entities
number of times to repeat the cycle. are scheduled into the system than are exiting,
Frequency The inter-arrival time or time the arrival location may not have enough capac-
between arrivals. Any valid expression may be ity to handle all the arrivals.
entered here except for attributes and non-general
system functions. If an arrival cycle was entered
for the arrival quantity, this is the time between
the start of each cycle. This field is evaluated Defining Arrivals
throughout the simulation run and will change if
Arrivals may be defined graphically by using the
the result of the expression changes.
tools in the Tools window, or by manually enter-
Logic This field defines any optional arrival ing the arrival information directly in the Arrivals
logic, consisting of one or more general state- edit table.
ments, to be executed by each entity upon its
arrival (e.g., assigning attribute values to entities How to define arrivals graphically:
as they arrive). Double-click inside this field or
click the logic button at the top of the column to 1. Select Arrivals from the Build menu.
define logic for an arrival.
 ProModel 165
User Guide

2. Select the desired entity from the Tools win- Independent Arrivals
dow.
An independent arrival is any arrival assigned to
occur at a specific time or at a fixed interval.
Independent arrivals include such things as
appointments, meeting times, or pickup and
delivery times. When defining independent arriv-
als, remember that simulation can model only
predefined appointment schedules. This means
that dynamically scheduled appointments (e.g.,
rescheduling return visits to fit into available
slots) must take place where you define the
appointment schedule.
3. Click in the layout window at the location
where the entity is to arrive. (You may need When defining independent arrivals, you may:
to scroll through the layout to bring the
•Define them by elapsed time, day and time,
desired location into view.)
or calendar date.
4. Enter the specifications for the arrival •Assign them to occur at fixed intervals (e.g.,
record (e.g., arrival quantity and frequency). interviews scheduled every fifteen min-
utes).

How to define arrivals manually: Please note

1. Select Arrivals from the Build menu. When you define independent arrivals as inter-
vals, the next arrival time is independent of the
2. Enter the Entity, Location, and Quantity
previous arrival. For example, applicants will
through either the keyboard or by clicking on
the respective heading buttons and choos- arrive for appointments based on the clock
ing the proper information. time—not the time elapsed since the last arrival.
3. Enter the First Time, Occurrences, and Fre-
quency using either the keyboard or the
statement builder (accessed by right clicking
•Allow a positive or negative offset to adjust
inside the desired field).
the scheduled time of arrival (e.g., appli-
4. Enter the time of the first arrival by clicking cants must arrive at least ten minutes prior
on the First Time button. (See “Independent to their interviews).
Arrivals” on page 165 for more information on
•Define a distribution to allow variability
the First Time dialog.)
from the adjusted arrival time.
5. Click on the Logic or Notes heading button •Allow the possibility that an entity will not
to enter desired logic or notes.
arrive at all.
•Define specific appointment types for only
certain resources or resource types.
166 Chapter 5:
Arrivals

How to define independent arriv- and time or calendar date and click the Edit
als: Arrival Time button.

1. Open the Arrivals module from the Build

menu.

2. Click on the Entity button and select the

entity type you want to schedule.
3. Click on the Location button and select
the location where you want the indepen-
dent arrival to appear.
4. Click on the Qty Each button and enter 6. In the offset field, enter any offset you wish
the number of entities to arrive at the sched- to apply to the arrival time. This will direct
uled time. To model no shows, enter the incoming appointments to arrive earlier (or
expression “Rand(1) + <probability of show- later) than scheduled. For example, if job
ing>”. For example, if only 90% of applicants applicants are to arrive 10 minutes prior to the
show up for scheduled interviews, enter time of their appointment, enter “-10”
“Rand(1) + .9”
Offset (-10)
5. Click on the First Time button to open the
{
dialog used to define the independent arrival
time for the entity. If you define a block of Arrival Appointment
identical appointments occurring at equal Time Time
intervals, this is the time of the first appoint- 9:50 AM 10:00 AM
ment in the block. (You may enter the arrival
time by elapsed time—since the start of the 7. In the variation and offset fields of the First
simulation—by a weekday and time, or by time dialog, enter any optional distribution to
calendar date.) define the variation from the adjusted arrival
time. Generally, to prevent the arrival from
Please note being unrealistically late, you should use a
doubly-bound distribution (i.e., uniform, nor-
mal, triangular, or beta). The triangular and
The arrival time must match the time units
selected for the simulation run-length. If you
defined the elapsed time by calendar date, you
must also define the simulation length by calen-
dar date. To edit arrival times, select either day
 ProModel 167
User Guide

beta distributions provide the most realistic The samples have different processing times
variation. depending on the test performed. To differentiate
between the different types of samples, we assign
Variation an entity attribute called Sample_Type to the
samples. We define a discrete, non-cumulative
Arrival Appointment user distribution called Test1 with the following
Time Time information:
9:50 AM 10:00 AM The arrivals logic for the entity called Test1 is as
follows:
8. In the Occurrences field of the arrivals edit
table, enter the number of times to repeat
this appointment definition. (Enter 1 if it will
occur only once.)

9. If the number of occurrences you entered

is greater than zero, enter a time interval in
the frequency field. ProModel assumes this
interval to be fixed for each occurrence (if
you enter an expression, ProModel evaluates
it only once and applies it to each occur-
rence). The distribution defined in the First
Arrival dialog applies it to each occurrence.
10. In the Logic field of the arrivals edit table,
enter any attribute assignments you will use to
determine the processing of the entity. This
might include the resource or appointment
type (e.g., interview) and it will be helpful if
you define these attributes beforehand.

Arrival Logic
Arrival Logic allows you to perform certain logic
as an entity enters the system and is used prima-
rily for assigning initial entity attribute values.
Suppose you process three different types of sam-
ples at an inspection station and each sample
takes either 8, 10, or 12 minutes to test. Fifty per-
cent of the samples take 8 minutes to test, 35%
take 10 minutes, and 15% take 12 minutes.
168 Chapter 5:
Shifts & Breaks

Shifts & Breaks Shift Editor

Weekly shifts and breaks for locations and The Shift editor window consists of a menu bar,
resources are defined using the Shift editor and Shift and Break mode buttons, time control but-
may start and end at any minute of the day. Shifts tons, and a grid representing one week of time.
and breaks are defined by selecting blocks on a
grid divided into days and hours. Once a weekly
shift and break schedule have been defined, it
may be saved in a shift file with an SFT exten-
sion.

The remainder of this section describes the Shift

Editor menus and the following procedures:
•Drawing a Block of Time for a Shift or
Break
•Selecting a Block
•Resizing a Block
•Editing the Begin or End Time
•Deleting a Block
•Duplicating a Specific Day’s Shift
•Customizing Shift and Break Colors

Shift Editor Menus

How to define a shift: The menus used in the Shift editor are accessible
from the menu bar at the top of the editor and
1. Select Shifts from the Build menu. include the following:
2. Select Define from the submenu. File For opening and saving shift files.

Edit For deleting unwanted shift and break

blocks. You may also delete or duplicate a spe-
cific day of the shift. If you delete a shift, the shift
as well as the breaks in the shift are deleted.
Options For customizing the colors represent-
ing shifts and breaks.
 ProModel 169
User Guide

Drawing a Shift or Break Block How to select an existing block:

When drawing a shift or break block, you must
be sure to follow these rules: • Click on the block. (A border appears to
show that the block has been selected.)
•Shift blocks may not overlap other shift
blocks.
•Break blocks may only be drawn on top of
shift blocks. How to deselect a block:
•Break blocks may not overlap or be adjacent
to other break blocks. • Click on the selected block or click on the
white area of the window.
How to draw a block:

1. Click on the Shift or Break button to desig- Resizing a Block

nate the type of block.
2. Click and begin dragging the mouse from How to resize a block:
the day and time on the grid the block should
begin.
1. Select the block.
3. Release the mouse button at the time the
block should end. 2. Dragging the border of the block until the
block is the desired size.
3. Release the mouse button.

If you want to define a block more precisely than

the grid allows, see Editing the Begin or End
Time below. Editing the Begin or End Time
Time blocks for a shift may be created in one
Please note minute intervals. It is difficult to graphically
define a shift this precise, so there is the option to
If the block you draw is invalid, it will not appear edit the begin or end time of a shift numerically.
on the time grid.
How to edit a block's begin or end
time:
Selecting a Block
1. Select the block.
To edit an existing block, you must first select it.
2. Adjust the begin or end time accordingly
using the buttons at the bottom of the screen.
3. Click on the Update button.
170 Chapter 5:
Shifts & Breaks

Deleting a Block block for Tuesday, the editor will display

“Duplicate Tuesday” in the Edit Menu.
There are three ways to delete a block. Use the
3. In the shift schedule, click the mouse on
one easiest for you.
the day you wish to copy the shift block to.

How to delete a block:

• Select a block and choose the Delete Customizing Shift and Break
option from the Edit menu. Colors
The colors that represent shifts and breaks can be
or... customized.

How to change the color for shifts

• Select a block and press the Delete key on or breaks:
the keyboard.

1. Choose Colors under the Options menu.

or... The colors dialog box will appear.

• Select a block and size it down until the

highlight box is gone.

Duplicating a Specific Day Shift

In many instances, the shift schedule for a spe-
cific day of the week is identical to shift sched-
ules for other days of the week. Rather than
creating the same shift block for several days of
the week, it is possible to duplicate one day's shift
block to another day of the week.

How to duplicate a shift block

from one day to another day: 2. Click on the Shift or Break button.
3. Click on the desired color.
1. Select any shift or break segment for the 4. Click OK.
day you wish to duplicate.
2. Select Duplicate from the Edit menu. The
day of the week you have selected to dupli-
cate is displayed in the Edit menu of the shift
editor. For example, if you selected the shift
 ProModel 171
User Guide

Shift Assignments Assigning Shifts

The Shift Assignment module allows you to ProModel allows you to can select multiple loca-
model everyday, real-life situations involving tions and resources and assign them to a shift in
scheduling and availability issues, and you can one record. Plus, you can:
easily define logic to control the way your model •assign a location or resource to multiple shift
handles these problems. files with a start time for each shift,
If you have an employee that works a split shift, •define off-shift and break priorities, and
assign two shifts to the resource with the corre- •create off-shift and break logic.
sponding start times. If you have a processing The Shift Assignments module allows you to
location that can only be used during specifically schedule the availability of resources and loca-
scheduled hours, set up a separate shift for that tions based on shifts and work breaks defined in
location. the shift editor. When a location or resource goes
You may have an office or some other operation off shift or on break, it is off-line or off-duty and
just starting up, and you need to run a specific is reported in the output statistics as non-sched-
shift for the first week and another for two more uled time rather than downtime.
weeks before going to your full capacity shift The off-shift and break logic are optional and
schedule. Simply set up three shifts and assign allow you to control more precisely when a
them all to the office in one step, indicating the resource or location may go off shift, on break,
appropriate start times for each. and how long before it becomes available again.
If you want to establish a controlled location
gateway: Among fulfilling other duties, your
employee needs to begin doing something (pro-
cessing a certain entity at a certain location) at a
certain time, so you set up a queue location, a
gate location (with a capacity of one), and a pro-
cessing location. Assign a shift to the gate loca-
tion so it will come on line at the designated time.
Now the gate location begins taking the entities
from the queue location and moving them to the
processing location, where the employee will be
requested at the appropriate priority level.
There are many ways to use shift assignments
and shift logic to solve any number of problems
in creating a valid model. This chapter explores
the features and functionality of the Shift Assign-
ments module, including statements and func-
tions for shift and break logic. When you select Shifts from the Build menu, two
options are displayed: Define and Assign. You
must define a shift before you can assign a
resource or location to it.
172 Chapter 5:
Shifts & Breaks

How to assign locations and also selects or removes it. Click OK when fin-
ished.
resources to shifts:

1. Select Shifts from the Build menu, then

click on Assign. ProModel displays the Shift
Assignments edit window shown below.

2. Select Locations - Click on the Locations

button to display the Select Locations dialog
(shown below). Click on a location and use
the buttons to select or remove it from the
Shift Locations list. Double clicking on a loca- 4. Units Enter the specific units of the
tion also selects or removes it. Click OK when selected resource to be assigned to the shift.
finished. You may assign one, several, or all units of a
resource to a shift. You can also use a macro
to specify the units. If left blank, ProModel
assigns the default of All units to the shift.
1,3 Units 1 and 3 only

1-3,5 Units 1 through 3 and 5 only

All All units of the resource

None You may use none to indicate that no

unit will adopt this shift. This is useful in
creating a run-time interface. By using a
macro to represent the number of units, the
3. Select Resources - Click on the Resources user may select none as an option.
button to display the Select Resources dialog Macro The name of a run-time interface
(shown next). Click on a resource and use the
macro that allows the user to define the units
buttons to select or remove it from the Shift
Resources list. Double-clicking on a resource
to be affected by the shift.
5. Select Shift Files - Click the Shift Files button
to display the Select Shift Files dialog (shown
next). Click on the Add button to display the
 ProModel 173
User Guide

File Open dialog and select the shift files you resource or location back on line. You can
want to use in the model. also use macros to specify priorities.

6. Define Start Times - Enter the start time for

each of the selected shift files. The value will
be interpreted according to the time units
specified in the General Information dialog
unless a unit label is entered after the value
(e.g., 10 hr). You can also use a macro to
specify the start times. If the Start time is left
blank, the shift will begin at the start of the These priorities follow standard ProModel prior-
simulation. All shifts specified apply to the ity level and preemption rules. (See “Locations”
locations and resources selected for these
on page 96, “Entities” on page 118, and
shifts in the Shift Assignment record.
“Resources” on page 132).
During the simulation, the shift with the earliest Priority for Ending Shift This is the priority for
start time remains in effect for the locations regularly ending the shift. An entity or downtime
and resources listed until the next start time must have a higher priority level to prevent this
encountered activates a new shift.
location or resource from going off shift at the
7. Define Priorities - Click on the Priorities but- preset time.
ton. The Priorities button allows you to enter
the priorities for going off line due to a break Off Shift Priority This is the priority for the loca-
or end-of-shift as well as the priorities of the tion or resource to stay off shift. In other words,
off-line state in the event that some other an entity or downtime must have a higher priority
activity attempts to bring a particular level to bring this location or resource back on
line before the preset time.
Priority for Starting Break This is the priority
for going on break. An entity or downtime must
have a higher priority level to prevent this loca-
tion or resource from going on break at the preset
time.
Break Priority This is the priority for staying on
break during the break period. In other words, an
entity or downtime must have a higher priority
level to bring this location or resource back on
line before the end of the preset break.
174 Chapter 5:
Shifts & Breaks

Shift & Break Logic How to determine the sequence

Shift and break logic are optional and are defined of events
in four distinct logic windows, each executed in a
specific sequence throughout the simulation run. 1. When a location or resource is scheduled
You can define logic to control how resources to go off line due to a break or the end of a
and locations go off line and what happens once shift, the pre-logic for that particular location
or resource is executed.
they are off-line.
2. After executing the pre-logic, which may
To define shift or break logic, click on the Logic contain conditional (WAIT UNTIL) or time
button to display a submenu of four events asso- (WAIT) delays, the location or resource is
ciated with shifts for which logic may be defined. taken off line, assuming it is either available or
Selecting an event from the submenu displays a the priority is high enough for preemption.
standard logic window. You can enter separate
3. At the instant the location or resource is
logic for each of these four events to be executed taken off line, the Off-Shift or Break logic is
when the event occurs. See the following discus- executed.
sion, Sequence of Events.
4. After executing this logic, the location or
resource waits until the time defined in the
shift file expires before going back on line.

Please note
You may want to use the Logic Builder to help
you enter the logic. Just click on the Build button
in the logic window. If the off-shift and break nodes are not specified
in the Resource Specs dialog, the resource will
Pre-Off Shift or Pre-Break Logic Executed stay at the current node. If no resources or loca-
whenever the location or resource is scheduled to tions are assigned to a shift, the shift is ignored.
go off shift or on break. This occurs before the
location or resource is checked for availability, so
it is executed regardless of availability. This logic
may be used to check certain conditions before Functions and Statements
actually taking the resource or location off line.
The logic is executed for each resource and loca- ProModel uses several functions and statements
tion listed as members for this shift assignment specifically for shift and break logic: SKIP, PRI-
record. This allows some members to be taken ORITY, DTLEFT(), FORLOCATION(), and
off line while others may be forced to wait. (Pre- FORRESOURCE(). Following is a brief descrip-
off shift and pre-break logic may be referred to in tion of each. For more details, see “Statements
this manual as pre-logic when speaking of either and Functions” on page 439.
one.) SKIP If used in pre-logic, it causes the off-shift
Off Shift & Break Logic Executed at the instant or break time (including any off-shift or break
the location or resource actually goes off line. logic) to be skipped so a location or resource
never goes off line. If used in the off-shift or
break logic, it causes the off-line time defined in
 ProModel 175
User Guide

the shift editor to be skipped. This allows you to Pre-off shift logic
specify a WAIT statement for the off-line time
and SKIP the off-line time defined in the shift IF FORRESOURCE() THEN
editor.
BEGIN
PRIORITY This statement provides an alternative
IF RESOURCE() = Loan_Officer THEN
way to specify off-shift or break priorities. It also
allows the priority to be changed after some time BEGIN
being off-shift or on break. If the priority is WAIT UNTIL Applications = 0
changed to a value lower than the current value,
END
the system will check to see if any preemption
may occur at that time. This statement is not END
allowed in off-shift or break pre-start logic.
DTLEFT() This function returns the remaining
off-shift time based on when the location or In addition to these functions, DTDELAY() may
resource is scheduled to go back on shift as also be called at the beginning of the off-shift or
defined in the shift file. It may be used in off-shift break logic to determine how much time has
and break logic to adjust the actual time the loca- elapsed between the time the shift downtime was
tion or resource is off-line. scheduled to start and when it actually started.
The length of the shift downtime defined in the
FORLOCATION() This function returns TRUE if
shift file would be the sum of DTDELAY() and
the member for which the shift or break logic
DTLEFT().
being executed is a location. This may be fol-
lowed by a test using the LOCATION() function
to determine the precise location. Preemptions to Off-Shift or Break
Logic
FORRESOURCE() This function returns TRUE if
the member for which the shift or break logic If off-shift or break logic is defined using WAIT
being executed is a resource. The RESOURCE() or USE statements and happens to get preempted,
function may then be used to determine the pre- the logic will resume one statement after the
cise resource if multiple resources are listed as WAIT or USE statement where it was preempted.
members.
RESOURCE() This returns the name-index num- Shift Downtime Principles
ber of the resource currently processing the off-
shift or break logic.
Locations Shift Downtime
To illustrate how FORLOCATION() and FOR- Principles
RESOURCE() might be used, consider the fol-
lowing example: Suppose you have locations and It is important to understand that when a location
resources as members in a shift file assignment or resource goes off shift, it is essentially down.
and you want to wait until variable Applications We call this type of downtime a shift downtime
is equal to zero before allowing a particular and it is treated slightly differently from other
resource called Loan_Officer to go off shift. You downtimes. Breaks, which are also part of the
would enter the following pre-off shift logic: shift schedule, are treated exactly like clock-
based downtimes. These downtimes are dis-
176 Chapter 5:
Shifts & Breaks

cussed in “Locations” on page 96 and Example 1 (b)

“Resources” on page 132.
Entity Entity
Shift Downtimes for Locations
All location shift downtimes have a default prior- Shift DT
ity of 99, the highest non-preemptive priority
possible. This means that when a location is
scheduled to go off-shift, this downtime will take
priority over all other entities with a priority less Actual DT
Time
than 99 waiting for the location. If the location is
currently in use, shift downtimes allow the cur-
rent entity to complete its process at the location. T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
After the entity is finished, the shift downtime
proceeds as if it started at its scheduled time. This
means that the location becomes available at the Please note
start of the next shift regardless of when it actu-
ally went off shift. This procedure is demon- Since the entity was preempted, the remaining
strated in the following example. time for the entity to be processed at the location
was completed after the location shift downtime
Example 1 (a) was completed.

Entity

Preempting Off-Shift Locations

Shift DT
An off-shift location may be preempted back into
service by an entity. Following the preemption,
the shift downtime will resume for any remaining
Actual DT time before the start of the next shift. The follow-
Time ing example demonstrates this principle.

Example 2
T1 T2 T3 T4
In this example an entity with priority of 200 or
Although the downtime is scheduled to last from greater preempts an off-shift location. The loca-
time T2 to T4, the actual downtime does not tion becomes available to process the entity.
begin until time T3. This is what happens for
both locations and resources currently busy when
the shift downtime is scheduled to occur.
To preempt a location in which an entity is cur-
rently processing, set the priority for going off
shift to a number one level higher than the
entity’s priority.
 ProModel 177
User Guide

Once processing is complete, the location returns tion remains off-shift for the total duration of the
to its off-shift status. shift downtime.

Shift DT
Shift DT

DT
Entity

Time
Time

T1 T2 T3 T4
T1 T2 T3 T4

In order for an entity to preempt any location The example above could represent the situation
downtime (shift or otherwise), it must have a pri- where a recurring downtime, such as a lunch or
ority level that is at least 2 levels higher than the dinner break, has been defined for a single loca-
downtime's priority. In this example the location tion that is scheduled to be available for a two-
shift downtime has a priority level of 99 so the shift period. It would be simpler to specify a sin-
entity must have a priority level of 200 or greater gle downtime for lunch and dinner that occurs
to preempt the shift. once every 8 hours continuously than to define
separate downtimes for lunch and dinner. In this
Overlapping Downtimes case the preempting downtime would represent a
meal break occurring while the location was off-
If a preemptive clock downtime occurs during a
shift.
shift downtime, the downtimes simply overlap.

Example 3 Resource Downtime Principles

This example shows the effect of a preemptive Shift Downtimes for Resources
downtime occurring for a location already off-
shift due to a shift downtime. Because location Resource shift downtimes work exactly like loca-
downtimes always overlap, the effect is as if the tion shift downtimes with the exception that if the
preemptive downtime never occurred. The loca- off-shift downtime is preempted by some other
downtime, the original off-shift downtime never
resumes. The following examples show how a
resource that is off shift is affected by a preemp-
tive request by another entity (example 1) and by
downtime preemption (example 2).

Example 1
Suppose a resource, repairman, is off-shift. An
important machine goes down unexpectedly.
Because this machine is a bottleneck in the opera-
178 Chapter 5:
Shifts & Breaks

tion, it is vital to repair the machine as quickly as it would have been had the original shift down-
possible. The repairman is called in and takes 30 time been completed.
minutes to fix the machine. The logic for the
downtime to call him back is “USE Repairman,
Shift
600 FOR 30 min.” This will preempt the shift
downtime and use the repairman to repair the Discontinued
machine even though the repairman is off-shift.
Once the repairman has repaired the machine, he DT
returns to his shift downtime until he is scheduled
to go back on shift. The repairman's shift down- Time
time will end at the originally scheduled time
regardless of the fact it was preempted by a repair
activity. T1 T2 T3 T4

Although in practice, situations like the example

Shift DT
above are unlikely to occur, it is important to
Discontinued understand that the above condition is possible.
Typically, preemptive downtimes are due only to
Task
some type of location or resource failure, in
which case, the downtime occurrence would be
based on usage and not clock time. If a preemp-
Time
tive downtime is based on usage, the situation in
the example above could not occur because the
T1 T2 T3 T4
location or resource would not be in use, and
would not accumulate usage time.
Although the shift downtime is scheduled to last
from time T1 to T4, the actual downtime lasts
from T1 to T2 and then from T3 to T4.

Example 2
This example shows the effect of a preemptive
downtime occurring for a resource already off-
shift due to a shift downtime. Since resource
downtimes are not overlapping, as in the case of
location downtimes, the shift downtime in
progress is discontinued and the preemptive
downtime takes control of the resource because it
has a priority greater than or equal to five-hun-
dred (remember that a downtime priority needs to
be only one level higher than another downtime
priority to preempt it). The effect in this example
is that the total downtime is actually shorter than
 ProModel 179
User Guide

General Information General Information Dialog

The General Information dialog box allows you Box
to specify basic information about a model, such
as its name, default time units, default distance
units, and graphic library. You also may specify
the model's initialization and termination logic.
Finally, a notes window is available for specify-
ing particulars of a model, such as the modeler's
name, the revision date, modeling assumptions or
anything else about it.

The fields of the General Information dialog box

are as follows:
Title An optional, brief description of the model.
Information will be displayed in the caption bar
and included in the model and results files.
Time Units The unit for any time value in the
model that does not have an explicitly specified
time unit. The smallest unit of time available in
ProModel is .00001 second and the largest is 1
day.
Distance Units The units in feet or meters for all
distances specified in the model. There is no
practical limit on the size of the model.
Model Notes... Brings up a notes window for
How to open the General Informa- specifying general notes about the model. Notes
tion dialog box: are optional and are for user reference only. An
alternative way to display notes is using a DIS-
• Choose General Information from the Build PLAY statement (see “Display” on page 467) in
menu. the initialization logic.
Graphic Library File Opens a dialog box for
selecting the graphic library file to use with the
open model. Graphics library files have the
extension GLB and are further explained later in
this section.
Initialization Logic Opens the Initialization
Logic window for specifying initialization logic.
180 Chapter 5:
General Information

An asterisk (*) next to the name of the button Termination Logic

means that some initialization logic has been
defined for the model. (See “Initialization Logic” Termination logic allows you to summarize data
or write special statistics to an output file at the
on page 180.)
end of a simulation run as shown below:
Termination Logic Opens the Termination
Logic window for specifying termination logic.
An asterisk (*) next to the name of the button
means that some termination logic has been
defined for the model. (See “Termination Logic”
on page 180.)

Initialization Logic
Initialization logic allows you to initialize arrays,
variables, and other elements at the beginning of
a simulation run as shown below:
Other common uses of termination logic include:
•Displaying messages
•Resetting read/write files
See the following page for a discussion on the
placement of initialization and termination logic
within the sequence of run-time events.

Please note

Although Initialization and Termination logic

Other common uses of initialization logic cannot be tested with the Compile option in the
include: Edit menu, as with Processing or Arrival logic,
•Reading external files the logic can be tested by clicking on the compile
•Displaying messages button in the logic window. ProModel checks all
•Prompting for values
logic automatically upon selecting OK and, if an
error in the logic is found, an error message
•Resetting general read/write files
describing the problem will appear.
•Activating independent subroutines that pro-
cess logic based on a timer. (See “Subrou-
tines” on page 246; also see “Activate” on
page 441).
Execution Time of Initialization
For a discussion of each of the buttons in the Ini- and Termination Logic
tialization Logic window, see “Editing Logic
Windows” on page 78. It is important to understand exactly when initial-
ization and termination logic is executed. When
 ProModel 181
User Guide

you select Run from the Simulation menu the fol- into the simulation module. Thus, any variable
lowing things occur in the order listed: figuring into a location's capacity and initialized
in the initialization logic will be initialized too
1. Variables are initialized to the values speci-
late to affect the location's capacity.
fied in the Variables Editor.
2. Macros with a run-time interface are set to Variables which do not figure into a location's
their user-specified value. capacity may be initialized in the Initialization
3. The model is loaded into the simulation Logic without any problem. A variable initialized
module. As the model is loaded, any numeric in the initialization logic could be used as the
expressions used to define such things as “First Time” for an arrival or downtime occur-
location capacities or number of resource rence. This is true because arrivals and downtime
units are evaluated and assigned a numeric occurrences are simulation events, and all initial-
value. ization logic occurs before the first simulation
4. Initialization logic is performed. event.
5. Simulation begins. Initial arrivals and down-
times are scheduled and simulation pro- Graphic Library File
cesses begin.
6. Simulation ends. ProModel allows you to create and store as many
7. Termination logic is performed. graphics libraries as desired. However, only one
8. Statistics are compiled. graphic library may be used for each model. To
copy a graphic from one graphic library to
Logic elements that figure into a model's struc- another model's graphic library, see “Copying a
ture are evaluated only when the model is loaded Graphic from One Library to Another” on
into the simulation module. Those logic elements page 316.
are:
•Simulation warm-up hours How to select the desired graph-
•Simulation run hours ics library:
•Node capacity
•Length of path segments 1. Select Graphic Library File from the Gen-
•Resource units eral Information dialog box.
•Location capacity
•Time and quantity cycle tables
•Queue length
•Conveyor length
•Conveyor speed
For a complete list of when each field is evalu-
ated, see the “Appendix A” on page 587.
Any variables used in an expression that change
any of these logic elements should be initialized
in the Variables Editor or run-time interface and
not in the initialization logic. The model structure 2. Enter the name of the desired graphics
cannot change after the model has been loaded library.
182 Chapter 5:
General Information

3. Select OK.

Please note

Only files with the extension GLB may be used as

graphics libraries. For more information on cre-
ating, merging and saving graphics libraries, see
“Graphic Editor” on page 312.
 ProModel 183
User Guide

Cost matically generated during run time about cost

for locations, entities, and resources.
With ProModel’s costing capability, you can
Object Type Use this pull-down menu to define
make decisions about your system on a cost
costing for the components of the selected object
basis. Costing dialogs allow you to monitor costs
type. Object types include locations, resources,
associated with Locations, Entities, and
and entities as shown in the following example.
Resources during a model run and the General
All defined model components of the selected
Statistics Report includes Costing statistics, auto-
type appear in the box below the object type field
matically generated at the start of the simulation.
and ProModel allows you to assign costs to any
of these components.

Locations

Operation Rate This field specifies the cost per

unit of time to process entities at the selected
location. Cost accrues only while an entity exe-
cutes a WAIT or USE statement in operation
How to use cost logic. ProModel accepts expressions in this field
and evaluates them at translation.
• Choose Cost from the Build menu. The
Cost Dialog appears.

Cost Dialog Box

Use the Cost Dialog box to define costs for Loca-
tions, Entities, and Resources. Fields in the Cost
Dialog box vary between Object Types and Pro-
Model evaluates expressions in these fields only
during translation at run time. The General Statis-
tics Report includes statistical information auto-