A Simulation Generator for Flexible Manufacturing Systems Design and Control

Recent developments in simulation languages have enabled the modeling of complex and large systems. Systems modeling using simulation has many advantages. Even though the creation of realistic models using a simulation language is becoming easier, it is not trivial. Simulation languages are not designed to be problem-specific. Furthermore, the art of systems modeling can be quite time consuming. This paper describes a user-oriented simulation generator for the design and control of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). The simulation generator serves as a preprocessor to the SIM AN simulation language. The generator converts data into a simulation model and automatically runs the simulation program. Standard output is provided by the simulation program, as well as plots and histograms of performance measures of interest to the analyst. Model development is significantly simplified by the simulation generator described in this paper. Simulation generators can be developed in a relatively short period of time by using an existing simulation language. Simulation generators represent a very attractive alternative to specialized simulation languages.