simul8 training additional topics to cover

Simul8 training

Additional Topics to Cover

Conveyors


Conveyors

• A conveyor is another way of transporting Work Items around a process

• e.g.➢ Cars moving along a production line

➢ Boxes flowing through a shipping line

Conveyors

• The number of work items that can be on a conveyor is determined by two factors➢ Length of the conveyor

➢ Size/Length of the work items

• The units for distance/length are set in the Preferences –>Distance menu

Cont.

Conveyors

• The length of a conveyor is set in the Properties ribbon

• The size/length on a work item is set using the reserved label name Length

Cont.

Conveyors – Example 1

1. Create the simulation above. Set conveyor length to 30.

2. Run the simulation. How many work items can fit onto the conveyor?

3. Set the work item LENGTH to 3 on the start point. Reset and Run. How many can now fit on the conveyor?

Conveyors

• How long work items take to travel is determined by ➢ Length

➢Speed

• Speed is set in the Properties ribbon

Cont.

Conveyors - Speed

• The speed units are determined by two things➢Distance measure set in Preferences

➢Time Units set in Clock Properties

• Default unit: Meters per minute


1. Create the simulation above. Set conveyor length to 20 and work item length to two.

2. Run the simulation. What is the ‘Average Time in System’?

3. Set the conveyor speed to 10. What is the ‘Average Time in System’?

Conveyors – Results

• Conveyor Contents

• Time on Conveyor

• Percent of Time in state

Conveyors – Additional Behaviour

• Conveyors can either be Accumulating or Fixed.

• If Accumulating is unchecked. The whole conveyor stops if a work item reaches the end of the conveyor and is blocked.i.e. gaps do not get squashed

Conveyors – Additional Behaviour

• Conveyors can be set to Allow Gaps.

• When Allow Gaps is checked, the Conveyor continues to run when there are no items waiting to be loaded.

• When unchecked the conveyor will wait whenever a gap will appear

Cont.

Power and Free/Fixed Pitch Conveyors

• Allow for the inclusion of fixed-spaced hooks

• Work items will have to wait until a suitable hook is available before joining the conveyor system

• Enabled on the ‘Additional’ tab of a conveyor

Power and Free/Fixed Pitch Conveyors

• Dog Pitch – a value which represents the spacing between the dog hooks on the conveyor. Units set in Preferences

• Attachment Point – represents where on the work item the dog hook will attach to

Cont.


1. Build the simulation above. Set conveyor length to 20, fixed pitch of 2. How many work items fit on the conveyor?

2. Set work item length to 4. How many now fit on the conveyor?

3. Uncheck the Accumulating box. How many work items fit onto the conveyor?

Efficiency


Efficiency

• Activities (or Conveyors) can represent situations where equipment or people work with less than 100% efficiency.

• An efficiency can be set on these building blocks on the Properties ribbon

• Can be set as AUTO, or DETAIL

Efficiency – Auto

• Auto Efficiency allows for setting the efficiency value in % terms i.e. 80% efficient and a typical time to repair

• Mean-time-between-failure is calculated using Negative Exponential

• Mean-time-to-repair uses Erlang-2

Efficiency – Detail

• Allows for Time between breakdowns and Mean Time to Repair to be sampled from a specific distribution.

• Time between breakdowns can be based on ➢Mean Time Between Failures – MTBF

➢Mean Cycles Between Failure

Efficiency – Detail

• MTBF: Based on Clock Time this option stops an Activity working at intervals based on the distribution used.

• MCBF: The number of cycles, or items processed, between the end of the repair and the next breakdown.

Cont.

Efficiency – Additional Behavior

• Close feeding queues – stops work entering the preceding queue

• Stop work immediately – stops processing the work item in the current activity. Will continue exactly where it left off after the breakdown

• Extend breakdown by time to empty queue – this will time the breakdown only once the preceding queue is empty

Graphics and UI


Background Images

• Allows you to import an image into Simul8

• Must be bitmap or Jpeg

• Can be imported from the ‘Insert’ tab.

Background Images

Cont.

Views

• Allow you to show certain aspects of the simulation e.g. results, process map etc.

• Created in the ‘View’ tab

Views

Cont.

1. Manipulate the screen to the view

you require.

2. Save the new view – give it a name

Can be accessed via ‘Select View’

button; ‘Ctrl’+ view number shortcut or

via Visual Logic

Work Item Images

• Change the work item image from / to something more relevant. i.e. Ambulance, bed or patient

• 2 ways ➢ Work Item Image on Exit

➢ Special label

Work Item Images

• Select the activity and navigate to the ‘Graphics’ tab

Cont.

Work Item Images – Using Labels

• Create a special label called “Image:(Image Name i.e Person)

• Create your images and put them in the image library. Name them the same as the image name in the label and include a number on the end➢ i.e. Person1, Person2, Person3;

• Action the label on an activity and set it to the relevant number i.e. 1, 2 or 3

Cont.

Building Block Images

• Change the basic building block images to more relevant image

• Different images for waiting, working, blocked, broken down and change over

• Can be changed dynamically through Visual Logic

Building Block Images

• Select the Activity and navigate to the graphics tab, or select graphics form the activity properties dialog.

Cont.

Displaying Data

• Charts➢ Object Results

➢ Custom Charts

• Tables➢ Link to spreadsheets

• Visual Data➢ Display global variables

• Data Bars

User Experience

• Focussed around making the simulation as easy as possible for the end user

• Buttons➢ Can be used to control the simulation

• Dialogs➢ Allow the user to modify the simulation

• Can be used in combination

Buttons

• Buttons are used to control the simulation➢ Run simulation

➢ Open custom dialogs

➢ Open internal spreadsheets

➢ Execute VL

• Makes using simulation easy!

Buttons

• Insert → Button

• Click ‘New’

Cont.

Dialogs

• Custom Dialogs allow Simul8 to be tailored to the specific needs of the user

• Display Simul8 information store data

• Allow Simul8 information store data to be changed

• Easy for the user to change parameters without any knowledge of how to build simulations

Dialogs

Cont.

UI - Example

1. Build a 4-click simulation.

2. Add a button and dialog to change the Number of Arrivals into the simulation. Remember to use a global variable.

3. Collect some KPIs to determine what impact increasing/decreasing arrivals has on the system. Add a button to open the KPI Summary

Extension

4. Create a new view and display your results on screen. Add buttons to alternate between views.

Jobs Matrix


Routing Work Without Routing Arrows

• For majority of simulations the routing arrows between objects and Routing Out and Routing In rules are sufficient.

• Doing this emphasizes the work and where it flows

• This can be enhanced by using additional routing methods that look at simulation slightly differently

Routing Work Without Routing Arrows

• Jobs Matrix – still emphasizes the work flowing in the simulation but handles complex flows, where there are a large number of options, much easier.

• Cycle Matrix – the emphasis is now on the sequence of steps taken at an activity rather than the flow of work.

• All methods can be mixed in the same simulation

Cont.

Jobs Matrix

• The jobs matrix is a table of information that controls complex routing and timings

• If an activity will feed work out to different destinations depending on the type of work the use the jobs matrix

• Available from the Data & Rules tab.

Jobs Matrix

Cont.

Jobs Matrix

Cont.

• Work Type – Used to distinguish the types of work

• Job – Used to control which location the work item will go next

• Location – the name of the Activity that will do the work

• Timing – the time the job will take (only used if the Activity has been set to use Jobs Matrix for Timing)

• Change Over – if the activity is set to use Change Over Time then the time in the change over cell will be used.

Jobs Matrix

Cont.

• Once the Jobs Matrix has been set up it needs to be linked to the Locations where it will be used.

• Set the Routing Out on an Activity to use the Jobs Matrix

Jobs Matrix

Cont.

• If using the Jobs Matrix to set Activity timings again they need to be linked.

• This is done via the Properties tab on an Activity

Jobs Matrix - Example

• Patients who arrive at an Emergency Department need to be sent for further diagnostics after they have been Triaged.

• Patients can be sent for CT, MRI and/or X-Ray.

• Build a simulation (using the Jobs Matrix) to map this out

• The Emergency Department sees around 100 patients a day. Assume they arrive at a constant rate throughout the day following an Exponential Distribution

Work Type 1 (60%) Work Type 2 (35%) Work Type 3 (5%)

Job 1 X-Ray X-Ray X-Ray

Job 2 Treatment CT MRI

Job 3 N/A Treatment Treatment

Cycle Matrix


Cycle Matrix

• Additional way of look at controlling the sequence of work

• List of tasks done at an Activity, rather than transactions through the system

• Defines the cycles of activity at each Activity

Cycle Matrix

Cont.

Cycle Matrix - Rows

• Each row in the Cycle Matrix represents a task each Activity will cycle through

• When you reset and run the model each activity will try and do task 1

• Once completed the last task it will start again and perform task 1

Cycle Matrix - Columns

• Activity – Name of the Activity. If blank assumes the same Activity as the row above in the Cycle Matrix

• Task Number – The number of the task. Must be an integer

• Description – Free text to act as reminder about the task

• Task Type – The type of task to be performed

• Work Type – Value to specify which Work Type to be selected. Cab be blank

• Job – Value to specify the required value in the Work Item’s job label. Can be blank

• From/To – the name of the object the work it mis coming from or going to

• State – Used to specify a state or task number to wait for

Cycle Matrix – Task Types

• UNLOAD FROM – Take a work item from the object listed in From/To column

• LOAD TO – Send the work item to the object listed in From/To column

• WORK – Work for the amount of time in the Time column

• WAIT BEGIN – Do nothing until the object in the From/To column is in the state in the State column

• WAIT END – Do nothing until the object in the From/To column has completed the state in the State column

• GOTO – Go to a specific task

Cycle Matrix – Example

• A simple production line where parts go through two welding machines.

• Parts are unloaded from a buffer to Weld Machine 1 and 2

• A robot transfers them between the machines

Weld Machine 1 Weld Machine 2

Part 1 x 2 Part from Weld Machine 1

Part 2 x 1

Cycle Matrix – Example

Cont.

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