IE 101- Introduction to

Industrial Engineering
Simulation
What is simulation?
• Simulation is the imitation of a real world process or a system.

• It requires developing a model that represents key characteristics and

behaviors of the selected physical process of system

• It is used to gain insight into the functioning of the natural or human made
systems.

• It is used to see the eventual real effects of alternative designs, conditions, or

courses of action.
What is simulation?
• Simulation models can be classified as
• Physical simulation
• Interactive simulation
• Continuous time simulation
• Discrete time simulation
Use of simulation in training
• Physical simulation
Use of simulation in training
• Interactive simulation
Use of simulation in engineering design
• Wind load
simulation with
Autodesk Robot
Structural Analysis
Use of simulation in engineering design
• Failure, fatigue
analysis with
SolidWorks
Use of simulation in engineering design
• Structural Analysis
with Solidworks
Use of simulation in engineering design
• Thermal simulation with
Simscan
Use of simulation in engineering design
• Flow simulation with
Solidworks.
Use of simulation in engineering design
• Biomechanic simulation with
HumanCad
Use of simulation in Industrial Engineering
• Industrial Engineers use simulation MOSTLY to analyze systems with
randomness
• What is randomness? What is a random variable?
• A random variable is a variable that takes its value as a result of some
chance mechanism.
• Consider a random variable X, which takes a value of 0 or 1 depending on the
result of me flipping a coin.
• Can you calculate expected value of X?
• Or consider a random variable Y, which takes its value as a result of rolling a
fair die
• Can you calculate expected value of Y?
Use of simulation in Industrial Engineering
• Or consider this one:

0.6 0.4 0.2

0.4 0.6 0.8

• Let Z be a random variable that counts number of jumps required to reach

node 4.
• Can you calculate expected value of Z?
Use of simulation in Industrial Engineering
• Or consider this one:

Parts Finished
Arrive Parts Depart

• Suppose on average 12 parts arrive per hour (with random time

between arrivals) and it takes on average 3 minutes to process one
part (with random process times)
• Let W be the random variable that represents the amount of parts waiting in
the queue when you visit this machine some random time in the future.
Use of simulation in Industrial Engineering
• As most industrial engineers do, we use and teach Arena simulation
software for our simulation needs.
The use of simulation in Industrial
Engineering
• We simulate industrial
systems in order to estimate
critical performance measures
of such systems.
• For instance, for a production
plant, we would like to know
(in the current design)
• How many parts on average can
we produce per hour?
• What is the average work in
process inventory?
The use of simulation in Industrial
Engineering
• For a bank office, we would like to know (in the current design)
• On average how long does a person wait to be served by the teller (between
11 AM and 12 PM)?
• On average how many people are there in the bank (between 11 AM and 12
PM)?
• Customers of which type wait longest in the queue?
• For a hospital, we would like to know
• On average how long does a patient wait before he/ she sees the doctor?
• On average what percentage of the beds are utilized?
• On average how many patients are there waiting in line to register?
The use of simulation in Industrial
Engineering
• If the answers to such questions are not satisfactory, then we
conclude that the system is not performing as we want it to be
• We then evaluate the result of the simulation
• Is there a bottleneck in the system?
• How are the resources (workers, machines, cashiers, nurses, beds) utilized?
• Which processes take extremely long and why?
• We propose changes in the system design and simulate again to see
whether such changes result in better performance outcomes.
• we use statistical methods to prove that one design is better than the other
Some simulation models with Arena
• See Arena models!
Simulation algorithm
• Let’s see how things work in simulation.
• Consider a simple processing plant that consists of a single machine

Machine
(Server)
Arriving Departing
7 6 5 4
Blank Parts Finished Parts
Queue (FIFO) Part in Service
Simulation algorithm
• How do you define the STATE of the system?
• An instantaneous occurrence that may change the state of the system is
called an event.
• What events can you identify for the simple processing system?
Machine
(Server)
Arriving Departing
7 6 5 4
Blank Parts Finished Parts
Queue (FIFO) Part in Service
Simulation algorithm
Here is how things go for an Arrival event:
1. Schedule the next part to arrive next.
2. If the machine is idle:
a. put the part in service
b. make the machine busy,
c. schedule the part’s departure.
If the machine is already busy:
a. put the part in queue.
b. update queue length.
Simulation algorithm
Here is how things go for a Departure event:
1. If the queue is empty:
a. make the machine idle,
If the queue is not empty:
a. take the first one out
b. begin its service at the machine
c. schedule its departure
Simulation algorithm
• Let’s execute this algorithm by hand for 9 hours for the simple
processing plant assuming the following interarrival and service times

Interarrival times (hr) Service times (hr)

1.5 2.5
2.0 1.5
1.0 3.0
0.5 5.0
2.5 3.0
2.0 2.0
 Schedule the first arrival at time=0
And the END event at time =9
Jump to the earliest event in the
schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :0
Event:Arrival

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :0
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :0
Event:Arrival
Do: Make the machine busy, schedule the
next departure, update the graph and jump
to the earliest time epoch in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :1.5
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :2.5
Event:Departure
Do: Schedule the next departure, update
the graph, and jump to the earliest time
epoch in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :2.5
Event:Departure
Do: Schedule the next departure, update
the graph, and jump to the earliest time
epoch in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :3.5
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :3.5
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :4.0
Event:Departure
Do: Schedule the next departure, update
the graph, and jump to the earliest time
epoch in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :4.0
Event:Departure
Do: Schedule the next departure, update
the graph, and jump to the earliest time
epoch in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :4.5
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :4.5
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :5.0
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :5.0
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :7.0
Event:Departure
Do: Schedule the next departure, update
the graph, and jump to the earliest time
epoch in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :7.0
Event:Departure
Do: Schedule the next departure, update
the graph, and jump to the earliest time
epoch in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :7.5
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :7.5
Event:Arrival
Do: Schedule the next arrival, update the
graph, and jump to the earliest time epoch
in the schedule

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Time :9.0
Event:END
Do: STOP and calculate average number in
the system

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
• Looking at the graph, how do you calculate average number of parts
in the system?

• How do you calculate average time parts spend in the system?