Computer-aided manufacturing simulation (CAMS) generation for interactive analysis - concepts, techniques, and issues

Simulation models are usually developed as a one-time use analytical models by a systems analyst (usually from an external firm) rather than for routine and interactive use by a shop floor engineer. This is because it usually takes a longer time to generate a result from the simulation, and the simulation model of a manufacturing system is usually too sophisticated and time-consuming to use as an interactive tool by the manufacturing/production engineer. A CAMS reduces this complication by encapsulating the 'complicated-logic' and automating the 'tedious data-acquisition' with a more user-friendly interface like a spreadsheet or database input form. The paper describes how CAMS can automatically generate a simulation model; specifically, techniques and issues to structure the model to hide those tasks, so that it is a user-friendly interactive decision support with minimal amount of automation code. The paper concludes with a capacity analysis example from the real industry.