SIMULATION LAB

Session 1: Introduction

Book: Simulation with Arena 4th Ed, David Kelton

SIMULATION LAB

Introduction
● Simulation Software
● The Arena window
● Basic modules in Arena
● Arena built-in variables
● Setting Run conditions
● View the simulation report
SIMULATION SOFTWARE

ARENA, SIMUL8, FlexSim and GoldSim some of

the most popular simulation packages
SIMULATION SOFTWARE
ARENA
Link Download:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lhxzcNXitMyELWhYIvMLFo3AC9sU5SLs?usp=sharing

- Provides an integrated framework for building simulation

models in a wide variety of applications
- Integrates some functions including:
1) animation
2) analysis of inputs and outputs data
3) model verification, etc.
 The ARENA Window
Quick Access Toolbar Title Bar

MDW (Model window tab)

Spreadsheet View

3. File Tab Model Workspace

4. Ribbon
7. Project Bar

Spreadsheet View
ARENA WINDOW

 Menu bar: File, Edit, View, Run, Window, etc.

 Standard toolbar: New, Open, Save, Template Attach, Template Detach, etc.
 Project bar: Basic Process, Advanced Process, Advanced Transfer Flowchart
module, Data modules.
 Animate toolbar: Clock, Date, Histogram, Plot, etc.
 Animate Transfer toolbar: Station, intersection, Route, Segment, etc.
 ARENA TEMPLATE CONCEPTS (1)
Entities: In every simulation model entities are objects under a particular process,
and they move along the system.
Example:
manufacturing  raw material and products,
banks  customers are the entities,
hospitals  patients.
„
Attributes :Are the characteristics of each entity and represent values associated with
individual entities
Example:
products: color, weight, …
customers: demand, …
patients: type of the disease
 ARENA TEMPLATE CONCEPTS (3)
Resources: Resources are stationary/non stationary elements
that are allocated to entities and perform or assist in
processing.
- Capacity and status (e.g. busy, idle, inactive, or failed)
- Resources may be used to represent people, machines, etc.
Queues: explains waiting status of entities due to the status of
the system. Entities who are waiting to be serviced by the
servers create queues.
- Queuing rules: FIFO, LIFO, LAV, HAV or other rules
 ARENA TEMPLATE CONCEPTS (2)
Variables: Represent values that describe the characteristics of the
system.
– These values are available to all entities. But not specific entity
– Used for many different kinds of things
• Travel time between all station pairs
• Number of parts in system (Work-in Process)
• Simulation clock (built-in Arena variable)
– Name, value of which there’s only one copy for the whole model
– Not tied to entities
– Entities can access, change variables
– Some built-in by Arena, you can define others
●Variables
global data storage objects used to store and modify state information; they can be
accessed, examined, and modified from every component of the model.
● Example of Arena Built in variables

Arena Built-in Variables Meaning

TNOW current simulation time

NQ(Queue ID) number of entity in queue
NR(Resource ID) number of busy resource
Example: A simple processing system
Conceptual model
Part arrival Processed parts
(Job Arrivals) Drilling center (Job Departures)
(Machine)

Interarrival time
Processing time
~ Exponential (5)
~ Triangular (1,3,6)
- Entity?
Queue discipline: FIFO - Attributes?
- Resource?
- Queue?
 DISCRETE PROCESSING PANEL
Create Flowchart Module: Part arrive at
“Birth” node for entities System
- Name – for module (type it in, overriding 0
default)
- Entity Type – enter a descriptive name
- Time Between Arrivals area
- Type: Distribution function name
- Value: Parameters of distribution
- Units – time units for Value
- Entities per Arrival – constant, random
variable, etc.
- Max Arrivals – infinite and finite value
- First Creation – time of first arrival
DISCRETE PROCESSING PANEL
Drilling
Process Flowchart Module (1): Center
Represents the machine, including the
resource, 0
queue, and entity delay time (processing)
• Enter Name –Drilling Center
• Type – pickedStandardto define logic here
rather than in a submodel (more later …)
• Report Statistics check box at bottom
To get utilizations, queue lengths, queue
waiting times, etc.
DISCRETE PROCESSING PANEL
Drilling
Center
Process Flowchart Module (2):
Action
0
– Seize Delay Release– entity Seizes some number of units of a

Resource (maybe after a wait in queue), Delay itself there for the

processing time, then Release the units of the Resource it had Seized –

we chose this option

– Could just Delay entity (red traffic light) – no Resources or queueing

– Could also Seize Delay(no Release … Release downstream)

– Could also Delay Release(if Resource had been Seized upstream)

– Priority for seizing – lower numbers mean higher priority

– Different Action choices could allow stringing together several

Process modules for modeling flexibility

DISCRETE PROCESSING PANEL
Drilling
Center
Process Flowchart Module (2):
Resources – define Resource(s) to be 0
seized, released
– Double-click on row to open sub
dialog
– Define Resource Name, Quantity of
units to be Seized/Released here
– Several Resources present (Add) –
entities must first Seize all
DISCRETE PROCESSING PANEL
Drilling
Process Flowchart Module (3): Center
• Delay Type – choice of probability
distributions, constant or general Expression 0
(more later …)
• Units – time units for the delay (don’t ignore)
• Allocation – how to “charge” delay in costing
(more later …)
• Prompts on next line – change depending on
choice of Delay Type – specify numerical
parameters involved
• Can also edit in spreadsheet view
- Subdialogs (e.g., Resource here) become
secondary spreadsheets that pop up, must be
closed
DISCRETE PROCESSING PANEL
Assign Flowchart Module: Assign
Production A
Name – for module (type it in, overriding Attributes
default)

Assignments: Be used to assign the

value of a named variable, an attribute,
an entity picture or other system
variable. New values can be set by any
valid expression.
DISCRETE PROCESSING PANEL
Dispose Flowchart Module:
• Represents entities leaving model boundaries
• Name the module
• Decide on Record Entity Statistics (average Parts Leave
and maximum time in system of entities exiting System
0
here, costing information)
Check boxes for statistics collection and
reporting:
- Most are checked (turned on) by default
- Little or no modeling effort to say yes to these
- However, in some models this can slow
execution markedly
- Moral – if you have speed problems, clear
these if you don’t care about them
DECISIONS PANEL
Decide Flowchart Module: Inspection
Outcome
30
Name – for module (type it in, Else
55

overriding default)
Type: Indicates whether the decision is
based on a condition (if X>Y) or by
chance/percentage (e.g., 60%, yes;
40%, no).
Setting Run conditions
❖ “Run” setup
- Replication parameters:
+ Number of replications
+ Replication length
+ Hours per day
+ Time unit
+ Warm up period
- Project parameters:
+ Statistics collection
❖ Run the model: Run> Go (F5), Run> Check (F4)
Viewing the report
❖ Category overview
❖ Tree outline on the project bar
- Queue: waiting time, waiting length
- Resource: Utilization
- Entity: Wait time, WIP
- Simple Processing: Total time that entity in the system, number in, out
 Viewing the report - Some statistics concepts
- Tally statistics: taking the average, minimum, or maximum from a list of numbers
(discrete-time)
- Time-persistent statistics: taking the (time) average, minimum, or maximum of a
plot of something during the simulation (continuous-time)
- Counter statistics: accumulated count of something
Ex: average total time in system, average queue length, WIP, number entities
left the system
- Instantaneous Utilization: Time weighted average of [number of units busy/ number
of units scheduled at that point in time] over the whole run. (When there is no
capacity scheduled, utilization at that time is zero)
- Scheduled Utilization: Time-average of number of units busy over the whole run/
Time-average of number of units scheduled over the whole run
Practice 1
Serial processing - Specialized seperated work

Arriving Check credit Prepare covenant Price loan Disburse Funds Completed
application (Albert) (Betty) (Charles) (Doris) Application
~Expo(1.25h) ~Expo(1h) ~Expo(1h) ~Expo(1h) ~Expo(1h)

Parallel processing - General integrated work

Albert (all 4 steps)

Arriving Completed
Betty (all 4 steps)
application Application

Charles (all 4 steps)

Doris (all 4 steps)

Practice 1

Run the simulation for 160 hrs and answer the following questions:
- Which arrangement is better based on the simulation results*? Does it
make sense to you?
- How does the result change if all the processing time is constant 1 hour?
- How does the result change if the integrated work entailed an average
increase of 18% in the time it takes to complete all 4 tasks?

(*look at Total WIP, Total time in system, Total waiting time, number
processed, resource utilization)