Discrete Systems Simulation

By the end of this course students should be able to:

	Learn the concepts and techniques required to build sound simulation models using computers.
	Learn how create simulation using spreadsheets.
	Learn how to use an advanced simulation package (ExtendSim).
	Apply learned skills to a specific problem (individual project).

Computer Integrated Manufacturing

Manufacturing Analysis

Manufacturing Simulation

Supply Chain Design
DM 405-01

Design of Manufacturing Systems and Processes
DM 407

In this course, students will learn the significance and ramifications of “Lean Manufacturing” practices and advantages they provide to a manufacturing company. They will learn how to analyze the cross functional processes and to understand how strategic business objectives are translated into specific actions involving facilities, equipment, new skills, and process improvements that must be achieved . Tactical planning and execution design are introduced using specific analytical techniques including:

	statistical segmentation of demand
	production and inventory considerations of facility and product design, including the impacts of variability
	use of statistical segmentation for make-to-stock, make-to-order, and make-to-plan strategies
	introduction to replenishment techniques including: level loading, rhythm cycles and considerations for safety and cycle stock
	use of postponement strategies in optimizing inventory control

Business Process Management

A course in the design and analysis of business process. Students will be introduced to the concept of business processes, including their cross-functional nature, design, operation, and management. Students will design, chart, and analyze processes and analyze business cases using the ExtendSim simulation software.

As part of the outcomes from the course, students will know how to communicate orally and in written format, and students will be able to critically analyze business problems from a process perspective and improve businesses through the analysis. Simulation models using ExtendSim will be developed and analyzed.

Operations Management in the Supply Chain

Discrete simulation. Layout factory planning and simulation of people productivity.

Advanced Operations: Business Process Management course

Discrete simulation modeling

This course focuses on analyzing management decisions that involve uncertainty, risk, and complexity with a strong emphasis on applications and on the use of appropriate decision analysis techniques and software tools. Students will do in-class assignments and homework using the software and one or more small-team projects that utilize the tools and techniques covered in class.

ExtendSim was used within three classes at the Masters level as described below.

Within the class "Logistics Project Work Planning", ExtendSim was used by 6 students. ExtendSim was available on 31 work stations in the computer lab and the students had access to these computers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition,
two teachers had a fully featured license on their computers. All students had a basic knowledge in the area of simulations, based on at least two introductory courses in discrete event, as well as in continuous simulation concepts. Furthermore, all
students were familiar with general statistical and analytic methods. The targets of learning in the course can be summarized in the following:

	Specialized knowledge in logistics, modeling and simulation, theory of probability and statistics, project management and problem solving, data collection and analysis.
	Comprehension of dynamic logistics phenomena, identification of possibilities and understanding of algorithms to stochastically generate data.
	Knowledge about the processes of simulation.

The task for the simulation project was the simulation based dimensioning of a logistics center: "Finished goods are delivered from different production sites to a logistics center. In this center, the products will be consolidated, stored, picked, packed, and shipped. A logistics planner has been assigned the task to determine the correct dimensions for the distinct areas of the logistics center. Furthermore, he is supposed to calculate the required resources such as forklifts or picking staff to ensure seamless operations. The planner has already recorded data and processes and has begun to develop a conceptual model for simulation. The planner, however, has unexpectedly left the company and is no longer available. It would be your job to take over his tasks. As of now, there is only the data of your predecessor available. Further, more detailed data will be provided."

Furthermore, ExtendSim was used in the class "Model Based Analysis of Logistics Networks" with about 20 students. ExtendSim was utilized to show simulation techniques and real-world examples. The students also had access to the
computer lab, described above, and could train their simulation skills. The basic contents of this course were:

	Introduction of simulation tool: ExtendSim
	Presentation and analysis of results
	Visualization of results

All students in this course had a good knowledge of simulation and were trained in different simulation studies.

Finally, ExtendSim was used in the class "Application of Logistics Simulation" with 5 students. ExtendSim was utilized to show simulation techniques and real-world examples. The basic contents of this course were:

	Introduction of simulation tool: ExtendSim
	Presentation and analysis of results
	Visualization of results

All students in this course had a good knowledge of simulation and were trained in different simulation studies.

Based on the topics of the lectures and topics of the simulation projects, the students used the discrete-event-oriented part of ExtendSim. The following libraries were
relevant to processing the projects:

	Item Library (e.g., Create, Get, Information, …)
	Value Library (e.g., Constant, Equation, Display Value, …)

Besides libraries, functions like the internal ExtendSim databases were used, as well as the possibility of linking data to Microsoft Excel documents.

The main advantages which could be seen were the simple and fast training period and the intuitive usage of almost all objects. Very valuable were the items for storing data and processing data transformation/manipulation. Furthermore, the object "Equation" was frequently used to perform analysis and to prevent the usage of other graphical items.

The ExtendSim manual can be used to read more about specific items and objects and is very extensive. Nonetheless, the structure is non-redundant and that makes it difficult, especially for non-native English speakers, to understand every detail. That led to problems in understanding all the configuration possibilities of blocks and to additional training support.

In addition, the great possibility to model almost everything in a graphical way makes it difficult for beginners to structure their models in a clean way.

Within the bachelor course “Logistics project work simulation” (Bachelor level course taught in Winter 2010-11) ExtendSim was used by about 100 students. ExtendSim was available on 31 work stations in the computer lab and the students had access to these computers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, three teachers had a fully featured license on their computers. All students had a basic knowledge in the area of simulations, based on at least two introductory courses in discrete event, as well as in continuous simulation concepts. Furthermore, all students were familiar with general statistical and analytic methods. The targets of learning in the course can be summarized in the following:

	Processing an own simulation project within a group of 8 students.
	Specialized knowledge in logistics, modeling and simulation, theory of probability and statistics, project management and problem solving, data collection and analysis.
	Comprehension of dynamic logistics phenomena, identification of possibilities and understanding of algorithms to generate stochastically data.
	Knowledge about the processes of simulation.
	Training of skills in innovations: Generation of variants, planning of experiments.

The resulting simulation projects, meaning the ExtendSim models, will be available for download soon. The topics of the simulation projects were:

	Simulation of a supply chain between a producer and a market and evaluation of different order strategies.
	Simulation of a material flow within a production line and evaluation of different setting-up strategies.
	Simulation of a distribution network for delivery to different customers.
	Simulation of a transportation network and comparison of different routing planning algorithms.
	Simulation of a material transportation system between different stages in a production line.

Aside from this course, ExtendSim was used in “Modeling of logistics networks” (a Master level course taught in Winter 2010-11) by about 30 students. ExtendSim was utilized to show simulation techniques and real-world examples. The students also had access to the computer lab, described above, and could train their simulation skills. The basic contents of this course were:

	Basic knowledge of simulation: definitions, models of material flows, classes of logistics resources and objects, flow diagram, graph and matrixes, funnel model and waiting queue model
	Description and valuation quantities for logistics processes
	Introduction of simulation tool: ExtendSim
	Introduction of planning tool: 4flow vista
	Planning and implementation of experiments
	Presentation and analysis of results
	Development of models
	Preparation and implementation of simulation models
	Visualization of results
	SCOR model, ARIS model and process chain model

All students in this course had a good knowledge of simulation and were trained in different simulation studies.

Based on the topics of the lectures and topics of the simulation projects, the students used the discrete-event-oriented part of ExtendSim. The following libraries were relevant to processing the projects:

	Item Library (e.g., Create, Get, Information, …)
	Value Library (e.g., Constant, Equation, Display Value, …)

Besides libraries, functions like the internal ExtendSim databases were used, as well as the possibility of linking data to Microsoft Excel documents.

The main advantages which could be seen were the simple and fast training period and the intuitive usage of almost all objects. Very valuable were the items for storing data and processing data transformation/manipulation. Furthermore, the object “Equation” was frequently used to perform analysis and to prevent the usage of other graphical items.

The ExtendSim manual can be used to read more about specific items and objects and is very extensive. Nonetheless, the structure is non-redundant and that makes it difficult, especially for non-native English speakers, to understand every detail. That led to problems in understanding all the configuration possibilities of blocks and to additional training support.

In addition, the great possibility to model almost everything in a graphical way makes it difficult for beginners to structure their models in a clean way.

In the Winter Semester (October 1, 2011 –March 31, 2012) the following courses will use ExtendSim as a simulation and training tool.

Logistics project work simulation

Contents will be:

	Processing an own simulation project within a group of 8 students.
	Specialized knowledge in logistics, modeling and simulation, theory of probability and statistics, project management and problem solving, data collection and analysis.
	Comprehension of dynamic logistics phenomena, identification of possibilities and understanding of algorithms to generate stochastically data.
	Knowledge about the processes of simulation.
	Specialized knowledge in logistics, modeling and simulation, theory of probability and statistics, project management and problem solving, data collection and analysis.

The topics of the simulation projects were:

	Simulation of a supply chain between a producer and a market and evaluation of different order strategies.
	Simulation of a material flow within a production line and evaluation of different setting-up strategies.
	Simulation of a distribution network for delivery to different customers.
	Simulation of a transportation network and comparison of different routing planning algorithms.
	Simulation of a material transportation system between different stages in a production line.

Modeling of logistics networks
The basic contents of this course will be:

	Basic knowledge of simulation: definitions, models of material flows, classes of logistics resources and objects, flow diagram, graph and matrixes, funnel model and waiting queue model
	Description and valuation quantities for logistics processes
	Introduction of simulation tool: ExtendSim
	Introduction of planning tool: 4flow vista
	Planning and implementation of experiments
	Presentation and analysis of results
	Development of models
	Preparation and implementation of simulation models
	Visualization of results
	SCOR model, ARIS model and process chain model

Applied Business Intelligence

The course DSS 430 is an undergraduate version of the DSS 650. The content and syllabus remain the same, but this course is offered to particularly promising undergraduates.

The course ran during the months of July and August. It was a graduate course of all online students. I was able to incorporate aspects of the User Guide (a really nice document, by the way) along with my own examples into the class. I'm happy to report that there were no instances in which Extendsim displayed bugs. In addition, I got a number of quite favorable comments about the capabilities of the software. Several students expressed an interest in using the software in their jobs as well.

A you have moved forward in versions of Extendsim, you have made some great changes. I first used version 6 and found it to be somewhat cumbersome as did my students. Version 8 has put an end to all of this. I truly enjoy using and teaching this software.  It is definitely a challenge for the less logical/quantitative students, but an incredibly valuable learning tool in all cases.

For the fall semester, we are rolling out the use of the network version.

Applied Business Intelligence

Using Laguna and Marklund text Business Process Modeling, Simulation and Design in conjunction with ExtendSim, this course combines perspectives of business along with industrial and systems engineering to create a broad, quantitative modeling approach.

The main objective of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the many analytical tools that can be used to model, analyze, understand, and ultimately design business process.  Discrete event simulation is among the most powerful of these tools.

Four sections of this graduate course are offered annually, reaching approximately 80 students. The course is in its third year.

Students were given the option to use Extend 6 (provided with the Laguna/Marklund text) or ExtendSim 8 as provided through the ExtendSim Adopter program. 

At the start of the semester, solutions to problems from the book were created in ExtendSim 8 giving Dr. Miori the opportunity to fully examine the capabilities and improvements in version 8. I was generally very pleased. ... I also referenced the User Guide extensively and found it to be complete and helpful.

Students found ExtendSim 8 to be much more direct and logical than Extend 6. Teaching ExtendSim 8 was found to be much easier. Dr. Miori has used a number of different complex simulation languages in the past and feels that ExtendSim certainly is a very solid and useful language.

Students all felt that this was a great product to learn and it assisted them in fully understanding process mapping and subsequent simulation/what-if analysis.

Advanced Topics - Modeling and Simulation
(undergrad and graduate cross-listed)
COM 671

In the Fall 2011 semester, Prof. Fink used ExtendSim in the Modeling and Simulation class which is offered every couple of years. The course is designed to cover four major areas of modeling, including physical modeling, process modeling, intelligent agent modeling, and 3-D visual modeling. These areas are central to the course as the course is part of a concentration in computer gaming. ExtendSim is taught and used explicitly for the process modeling component of the course, though the students are also allowed to use it in the intelligent agent modeling portion if they so chose. The course is cross-listed as an undergraduate and graduate level course.

In the Fall of 2011, 8 students enrolled in the course: 4 undegrads and 4 graduates. Undergrads were allowed to work in pairs if they so chose, so a total of 7 projects were generated in the course using ExtendSim. In order to get the knowledge needed on a process to model, it was suggested that students go to the Science Channel's Web site "How It's Made", so the subjects selected almost all had to do with manufacturing, though one model had to do with how a device functions. For further details, click here to see the actual assignment. The following were the areas modeled by the students:

	How a speaker works
	Manufacture of a pocket knife
	Manufacture of a baseball
	Manufacture of an 1873 model Colt
	Manufacture of an ice cream cone
	Manufacture of a fireman's helmet
	Manufacture of a CRT

There was quite a diverse set of areas chosen by the students and, based on their subject area, each used different libraries. One studetn even created a few blocks for her own library. Most also used the hierarchical capability of the tool, and several used the graphical user interface capabilities.

Analysis and Design of Operations

This year one MBA course provides an overview of the productive system for products and services, focusing on process characteristics and techniques used for process management.

	Process Line Balancing
	Queue management
	Inventory Management

Operations Management

Simulacion

Business Process Reengineering
MAT 09

Dati Reti e Sistem
SECS-S01

Simulation for Designing and Planning Construction Operations

To design and plan construction operations by means of probabilistic or stochastic simulation. At the end of the course, the student should:

	Graphically represent construction operations using discrete-event simulation software.
	Build computer simulations (models) of construction operations and verify its operation be as close as possible to reality.
	Explain the model and apply statistical validation techniques.
	Model the uncertainty related to construction operations in terms of dynamic relationships and durations.
	Understand and interpret the outcomes of a simulation model and describe them in terms of statistical parameters.
	Apply different experimental design techniques to effectively use simulation models.
	Develop a modeling and simulation project from start to finish.

BUAD 449 emphasizes structuring of operations management (OM) problems to facilitate improvement of business processes. Topics include design (or redesign) of customer service processes, focusing on cycle time reduction, design of manufacturing, service, and logistics processes, emphasizing lead time reduction and the use of technology to support design activities.

The final project will involve the use of ExtendSim to simulate an existing business process. Working in teams, changes to a system will be suggested and performance of the modified process with status quo to determine the extent of changes that have been realized will be compared.

Service Operations Management

The service sector dominates the economies of most developed nations. Worldwide, services account for 64% of GDP and 40% of employment, and in the United States the service sector accounts for 76% of GDP and 85% of employment. In addition to the "pure" service sector, the delivery and support of many goods involves a significant service component. The challenges involved in managing services have been complicated by globalization, for many services are now delivered by service supply chains that involve multiple firms and cross national boundaries.

In this class students will develop both quantitative tools and qualitative models in ExtendSim that will help to manage in this complex environment. The class focuses on four topics: (i) managing variability in services, (ii) the operations/marketing interface, (iii) demand and revenue management and (iv) process improvement in services.

I would like to report on my use of the simulation package in my MBA course: OMG 412: Service Operations Management in the Fall 2010. This is a second year elective course taken by about 20 students.

The ExtendSim simulation package was a central part of the course. I attach a syllabus of the class which shows sequence to topics taught, and specifically how I used ExtendSim.

The software fit quite well into the topic of the course which was managing service systems. In terms of applications, the package was used by students to model various service operations. Many of the cases were based upon Harvard Business School cases
(BAT, Benihana, CVS).

	A car wash (an exercise from ExtendSim examples)
	Police dispatching policies for patrol cars
	Managing a technical call center and priority rules (BAT case)
	Capacity analysis of a restaurant (Benihana of Tokyo)
	Process improvement of a retail drug store (CVS case)

What is most enlightening is the list of homework assignments related to ExtendSim.

Training materials
I was greatly aided by Robin Clark who shared power point slides which provided a quick and useful introduction to using ExtendSim. He also was very helfpful to me in learning some of the more obscure features of the package.

I helped my students learn ExtendSim by making a series of video tutorials which I posted on the class website. The tutorials were each about 10-20 minutes long and focused on an increasingly complex set of modeling skills. In all I made 6 tutorials. The
students really liked "seeing how it was done" I made sure to pace them slowly enough so that the features of ExtendSim could be absorbed. I used the Macintosh software called "Screenflow" to capture the ExtendSim screen and provided verbal narration.

Service Operations Management

Similar to Fall 2010.

Dynamic Programming and Markov Decision Processes
IOM-677

Queueing and Stochastic Networks

Early on in the course, I devoted one lecture to the basics of using ExtendSim, and demonstrated to the students how to build a couple basic queueing models in ExtendSim. We then discussed how to estimate performance measures for those models such as the mean time in queue. This allowed me to assign homework problems to the students that required the use of ExtendSim. The problems I assigned were as follows:

	HW #2, Problem 4.
	The students were asked to find the limiting probabilities, and the expected number of customers waiting at each station, for a particular Jackson network configuration. This can be done through exact analytic formula (and that exact analysis was taught in class). The students were then asked to simulate the network using ExtendSim, and to see that their simulation answers matched their analytic answers.
	HW #4, Problem 2.
	The students were asked to develop a heavy-traffic approximation for the mean number of customers in the system for a GI/GI/1 queue, under two different distributional assumptions for the service times that were not exponential. Note that there are no exact analytic formulae for steadystate performance measures for this system, and so the students had to rely on approximation formulae (which we developed in class). The students were then asked to simulate the GI/GI/1 queue using Extend in order to understand the situations in which their approximation formulae performed well.
	HW #4, Problem 3.
	The students were asked to develop a heavy traffic approximation for the mean number of customers at each station in a network that consisted of two GI/GI/1 queues in tandem. Again, there are no exact analytic formulae available and so the students had to rely on approximation formulae. The students were then asked to simulate the network using Extend in order to see how their approximation formulae performed.

I view the use of ExtendSim as very important for the course. In order for the students to truly understand how to develop and use analytic approximation formulae for queueing networks that cannot be analyzed exactly, it is extremely helpful for them to also simulate the network. The simulation allows them to understand how to apply their approximation formulae to estimate performance measures of interest, and to know when there approximation formulae will work well vs when their approximation formulae may not work well. Please also see my Homeworks #2 and #4 for the exact questions referenced above.

I am very appreciative for having the use of ExtendSim for this course. Thank you.

This class demonstrates effective decision making by exposing students to various modeling techniques from Simulation and Decision Analysis, including decision trees, influence diagrams, decision making under risk and uncertainty, Monte-Carlo and discrete-event simulation. Emphasis will be placed on real-world applications, including capacity management, process analysis, and health care management.

Students learn the basic concepts of modelling and simulation methodology with its applications in financial management.

Basic mandatory course

Basic mandatory course

Advanced mandatory course

Basic concepts of identification, description, modelling and experiment/simulation methodology with its applications in management of business & economic systems, particularly processes in projects and enterprises will be taught.

Basic discrete event simulation on the basis of ExtendSim. Approximately 15 students will be enrolled in this course.

Discrete event simulation, output analysis with statistical methods (incl. common random numbers and other advanced stuff), design of experiments, etc. Approximately 20 students will be enrolled in this course.