Simul8 user manual

Double click to get the Properties and change the number available to 1, and rename as Human Resource. Click add, then select Human Resource. Repeat this for the other process Work Center. Step 8: to have Work Items already in storage at the start of the simulation, start with 5 units in each of the storages before processing. Step 9: set the processing speeds and distributions for each of the machines.

Efficiencies Efficiency of a machine is the percentage of the time the machine is able to operate. You are able to adjust these parameters and the average repair time, if known, to be able to adjust the operating time when the machine breaks down.

This allows you to change the time between the breakdowns and the time to fix the breakdowns. Each of these may have Labels attached. You are able to add and remove the Labels attached to each of the Work Item types [see Labels].

Note that the default Time Unit is minutes, and hence processing times etc should be specified in minutes. Default settings start at 9 am and run for 8 hours a day for 5 days.

The Warm Up and Collection Period is discussed below in the next section. Warm up period The warm up period is the time that the simulation will run before starting to collect Results. This allows the queues and the machines to hopefully achieve a steady state i. If the simulation is set up with appropriate initial values, such as initial loadings and Work in progress, a warm up period may not be required. Results collection period The Results collection period is how long the simulation will run before automatically stopping while collecting Results.

The simulation will not start to collect Results until the warm up period has finished as discussed above ; the collection period should be adjusted to suit the problem. Be careful what units being used the simulation, i. This opens the window shown. By changing the default image, this changes the graphic for the machine. You are also able to make the machine look different for each of the possible states the machine is in, by changing the animated images further down on the window.

After clicking on changing the image, it opens the Image dialog box, which allows you to open any of the images stored in SIMUL8 and outside sources. Example 2 Including: efficiencies, clock, changing graphics, Results warm up and collection period. Step 1: add an efficiency rating to one of the machines.

Process 1 machine. Step 2: clock Properties. Make the starting time for each day be 7 am and the simulation to run for 5 hours a day. For 5 days a week 11 Step 4: Results warm up and collection period.

Change the warm up period to 30 minutes, so the Results are collected after this period. This should be sufficient time to allow the state of the system to reach a steady state. Change the Results collection period to the rest of the time in the week. The example is attached on CD as file example. S8 12 Many other Results can be collected from each of the simulations. This returns all the information that has been collected for each of the last runs.

If the information that you require is not here, you will have to click the export Results button for 13 Trials A trial is a series of runs of the simulation. They are all performed with the same values for parameters but using different random number streams. This puts different random numbers in each of the runs that you do. Routing in and out Refer to the Visual Logic [see section 21] that can be behind the Routing in and out. Shown below is the Routing in for the process 1 Work Center.

There are many available Routing rules, collect is discussed more later. Introduction to SIMUL8 The following Routing rules are the most common: The priority Routing rule sends all Work Items to the first destination in the list, unless this is blocked, in which case the second is tried and so forth. Collect lets you collect a number of Work Items from a number of places, for example you might want two shoes one left and one right to make a pair before boxing them.

Passive Routing means that the object does not attempt to pull for passive Routing in or push for passive Routing out. Work Centers normally attempt to pull Work in and push Work out when it is complete. Routing out Routing out indicates where to send the Work Items after the have finished at the Work Center. Circulate is default, the first Work Item will go to the first destination in the list, the second Work Item to the second, Label Routing sends Items according to the value of a Label.

Items with Label value 1 will route to the first in the list, those with 2 to the second route etc. Note that Items with Label value 0 will cause the Work Center to block. Alternatively, by changing the batch size for Routing out of a Work Center, you are able to change the value of the size to leave a Work Center. The Work Center routes out a batch of Items that are replicas of the Item being processed. Travel times You are able to change the time that it takes to travel between two Work Centers or storage areas.

You are able to set all the travel times to zero, when they created. Sub windows Sub windows help to tidy up the screen and group many Work Items together. You are able to change the Properties of the sub window.

To open the sub window double click on the icon, to close the window click the X in the top right corner. Labels Labels are generally used for two purposes. Firstly to distinguish between different type of Work Items, e. Add the Labels you wish to modify and choose the action you wish to perform. The order of initiation of the Visual Logic that can be behind the Label actions, are displayed in the table in appendix A. It is important to note when label actions are initiated if they are required before the processing at a particular Work Center.

Multiple Work Centers may be needed with zero processing times to change a Label before it is processed i. After clicking Set to: click on value, to input what value you want to set the Label to.

In this example, all the Work Items that pass through this Work Center will have a Label of distance attached to them, with a value of Work Centers that have the high volume box ticked can make use of the Quantity Label. If you have a Quantity Label, this is a very powerful and reserved Label. Every Work Item 17 The total processing time for the Work Item will be that specified in the in the Work Center Properties multiplied by the value of the Quantity Label.

An example of where this feature might be appropriate would be a mail bag containing letters. In some situations the processing time would be for the entire bag e. Other times it is more appropriate to specify timing for each item e.

In this case the Work Center High Volume option should be chosen and the specified time will be multiplied by the Work Items Quantity label, a label reserved specifically for this purpose. Using the example mentioned above, if the mail bag passed through a Work Center with a batching out of 4, then 4 new Work Items would be created, each with Quantity Resources A Resource is an Item that is potentially scarce.

They are often used to model staff that are required to run Work Centers, either to set up a process, or to reset a machine after processing a Work Item. To add a new Resource, click on the icon in the toolbar, place it in the screen then double click to get the Properties.

This dialog allows you to adjust the number of Resources usually people available and change the graphics. This will show all the Resources that are currently in the system; if the Resource is not there, you may have to add it before continuing. You are able to pool Resources together as well as make the Resources dependent on shift times, and how many Resources per shift.

Tick the check boxes on the Resource form to pool or make the Resources shift dependent. You are able to change the details of the Resources in terms of when you require and release them. Different Work Centers 18 You are also able to change the nature of how many Resources can be used by a Work Center, this may want to be used to speed up a processing time if more than one Resources in available. The order of initiation of the Visual Logic that can be behind Resource allocation, are displayed in the table in appendix A.

Groups A group is a collection of simulation objects, i. A great feature of these is being able to limit the number of Work Items which can be within the group. This is good in a manufacturing situation when Work Item type change of Label changes and we have to have a setup time before the next Item.

By default, there is no change over time between Work Items. Within the open simulation Logic and the reset logic, make sure that you set : Once the file is saved, then you can refer to the spreadsheets within SIMUL8 and as single cells, i. The window beside sets the Label Quantity value for each of the Work Items to the second column of the above table. Var1 is a counter that is updated with Visual Logic [refer to visual Logic section] after every iteration of setting the Work Items.

Another example of using the spreadsheets is shown on the picture below; it refers to another spreadsheet that is called parameters. This is a very good consistency tool, so that if all the Work Centers within the system change processing speeds, we are able to alter the parameters just within the spreadsheet.

The data that is sent to the spreadsheet is whatever Results are currently being collected. Make sure that you have the file name of a sheet that you are using, with the correct sheer name [default sheet 1]. The Excel spreadsheet may need to be open for the export to occur. Visual Logic Visual Logic is good for coding complex interactions that cannot be achieved using standard drag-and-drop modelling.

It is an alternative approach to controlling a model by writing code as a programming language. Once you become more familiar, you may choose simply to write the code manually.

All the Visual Logic commands, with explanations, examples and where they can be applied in a simulation, can be found in the Help menu under Visual Logic. Visual Logic code is executed when triggered by an event, e. Academy is a fast, effective way to learn the fundamentals of Simul8.

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