Practical No.

11
Object:
I. II. To create understanding regarding simulation and its benefits. Also aims to become familiar with the WITNESS Simulation package.

What is Simulation?
Simulation is consistently ranked as most useful and powerful of mathematical modeling approaches. It is a tool by which an organization can count the chicken before they hatched. It is a model that mimics reality. Computer based simulations have been used to tackle a range of problems in most business sectors leading to improvement in efficiency, reduced cost and increased profitability. Modern simulation tools like WITNESS, ARENA include dynamic animation that allows mangers to better understand the flow of their business and how it operates. These tools ultimately allows managers to make correct decisions based on the state of their business and being aware of those activities in the business process that could be improved. By using this tool, it is now possible for any organization to see the future on just a single screen. Hence simulation is an important to: Predict the course and results of certain actions Understand why observed events occur Identify problem areas before implementation Explore the effects of modification Evaluate ideas and identify inefficiencies Gain insight and stimulate creative thinking Communicate the integrity/feasibility of plans

Introduction to WITNESS:
Witness is one of the most powerful business process simulation software that has the capability to simulate any of the business process regardless to the nature and size of the organization. It has an attractive and user friendly GUI due to which it is quite easy even for the non-programmers to built a model without any difficulty. The GUI automates the model-building process by selecting icons to represent all the elements of the system to be modeled. Integral within the system is the ability to describe behavior and attach several types of attributes to any of the elements in the system. A comprehensive report is automatically generated at the end of the simulation run which captures a models behavior and is used to interpret the model and make decisions. With witness, you can: Model Processes to define, document and communicate. Simulate the future performance of a business to understand complex relationships and identify opportunities for improvement. Visualize operations with dynamic animation graphics.

Analyze how a system will perform in its as-is configuration and under a myriad of possible to-be alternatives so that you can confidently choose the best way to run a business.

Meet With WITNESS:

The GUI of witness software is quiet simple and comprises of five basic windows. Modeling Layout Window WITNESS provides a very large canvas on which your model and additional text, graphics, charts etc can be displayed. This canvas is called the virtual screen. The modeling window displays a smaller area of the canvas. This area is called the physical screen. You can display the model and watch the simulation running in the modeling window. You can even display different models, or different parts of the same model, in several different windows.

Basic Toolbars

Modeling Layout Window Element selector window Clock window

Designer Element Window

Designer Elements window Designer element window allows you to add designer elements to build up your model. You can copy these elements into your model from this window; once the copy is in the model window, it becomes a normal simulation element. Designer elements enable you to build models very quickly and you can model several different "what if?" scenarios rapidly using the same elements.

Element selector window This window comprises of different folders having a list of all system variables, system elements, system attributes and special locations that are available for your model. Clock Window The clock window allows you to visualize the simulation time both in analog and in a digital format. Basic Toolbars Contains several different tools that enable you to create simulation models.

Question 1: How you would differentiate between the manufacturing processes simulation and business processes simulation? Question 2: Write down some of the practical examples where you think that the simulation can be useful. Question 3: Al-Haya restaurant is planning to increase its service counter from 3 to 4 but it is in doubt whether this investment would prove to be useful to reduce the service time or not. What you think, can simulation be fruitful in order to resolve their problem?

Practical No.12
Object:
I. II. To introduce the basic concepts needed to create a simple model. To be able to built a simple model in WITNESS using graphical construction techniques and also to examine the output from that exercise.

Basic Elements in WITNESS:

There are four basic elements of witness software found in designer element window that are essential to create any type of model. These are: Entities Queues Activities Resource

Entities: An entity is something that enters the model, moves from element to element through the model and then passes out of the model. Entities are discrete items that move through a model in this way. Entities can represent anything that moves through the model. For example, entities can represent: Fabric enters at packing station Calls in a telephone exchange People moving through a super market

Queues: A queue is an element that stores entities. Queues cannot pull entities in; another element must push entities into it. Queues can use a queue exit rule to push entities out, or another element can pull entities out of it. Entities may be ordered within a queue (for example, first in first out, last in first out). Here are some examples of things that you can represent with queues: People waiting for a flight, a free teller at a bank or a hospital operation. A skip holding entities that are waiting for their next operation. A hopper at an assembly station containing product components.

Activity: An activity is an element that takes in entities, processes them and sends them on to their destination. Activities can represent different types of processes. For example, you could use an activity to model: An airport check-in desk (separating customers from luggage and issues them with boarding cards). an organization which handles a project then passes it on, with processing and idle states a complete shop or a supermarket checkout, with serving, idle and closed states

An activity can be of following types: Single Batch Assembly/Join Production/Split General Multi-Task Multi-Station

Resource: Something that is required to perform the activity i.e., operators, tools, equipments etc are termed as resource. For example: Robots performing several precision tasks An airport maintenance crew A jig or fixture

Entity Flow:
After defining the basic elements, another task is to explain the relationship among these entities that how these should flow between the elements. Some of the common entity flow rules are: Pull from Q1 Push to Q2 Push A to Q1, B to Q2 Wait Most entities Q1, Q2

Percent Q1 80.0, Q2 20.0 Sequence/wait Q1#1(1), Q2#1(1)

Question 1: The owner of the Areeba grocery store is trying to decide whether to install one or two check-out counters. The time between customer arrivals is exponentially distributed with an average of 18 minutes between arrivals. The time to service a customer is also exponentially distributed with an average of 10 minutes per customer. Customers are serves on a FIFO basis. (a) Simulate this problem for 2 hours. (b) Comment on the average waiting time of the customer and the percentage of the idle time to the checkouts. (c) How would you decide between the alternatives? Question 2: Three types of fabrics arrive at Q001, Q002 and Q003 respectively. A scanning activity takes a single piece from any one of these queues, scans that piece and logs the details in to the computer system and places it in any one of the three more queues: Q004 to Q006. A second activity pulls a part from any of the queues Q004 to Q006, views the scanned information on a computer screen, determines the necessary actions, processes the piece and then dispatches it. The piece after dispatch leaves the scope of the simulation. The information regarding the time is as follows: Arrival Interval: Entity001: 1 every 8 minutes Entity002: 1 every 12 minutes Entity003: 1 every 18 minutes Activity Cycle Times: Activity001: 2.6 minutes Activity002: 4.4 minutes Queue (all) capacity 10 parts (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Model the above scenario and run it for 300 mins. Which fabric quality has smallest quantity of arrivals? Why? Are any quality given a priority? Support your answer by giving a validate reason. Which queue experiences low inventory levels? Why? What would happen to pieces that were unable to enter a queue? And how one would overcome such issues?

Question 3:

Amend Q.2 as follows: Change the name of the parts as Fabric_A, Fabric_B and Fabric_C Change the names of the queues as Q1 to Q6

Change the color code of the fabrics so that they look different from each other. Change the name of the activities as Scan and Review. Change the arrival of Fabric_C to 2 every 20 minutes. Change the capacities of Q1-Q3 to 12. There is also delay on queues Q4-Q6 of 0.3 minutes before pieces are available for Review. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Run the model for 300 minutes and observe simulation. Which type has the shortest flow time? And why? What is the average delay experienced by Fabrics in Q5, why this is the highest? What will be the effects of reversing the sequence of the scan output rule? What priority rule should be used by Review to minimize delay of pieces in Q4-Q6?

Question 4: In Q.2, whenever the Fabric type changes, the Review activity has to use another database to process the fabric, this takes 0.3 minutes. In addition after every 12th quantity the Review computer system has to perform a calibration spot check which takes 1.7 minutes. There are no other types of stoppages on Review apart from the above set-ups. Every 25 operations, the scanner needs cleaning, and this takes 2.8 minutes. At the start of the model, the scanner has been used 15 times since the last clean. The scanner being used in the Scan operation is not very reliable and after 2 hours of scanning, it breaks down and takes 18 minutes to repair. Run the model for 300 minutes and observe the simulation. How many times does the scanner breakdown during the 300 mins of simulation? What effects will occur by reversing the sequence of the scan input rule? What is the percentage change (avg. hourly) in throughput due to setups and breakdowns?

(a) (b) (c) (d)

PracticalNo.13
Object:
To develop understanding regarding the simulation of assembly and multitasking operations.

Assembly Operations:
An activity that takes a number of entities/input to give a single entity or output is termed as an Assembly.

Witness software allows you to simulate assembly operations in a real time. The assembly can be of two types: Temporary Assembly Permanent Assembly Temporary Assembly: As assembly of components that has to be de-assembled at later stages is termed as Temporary Assembly. Permanent Assembly: An assembly of components that must remained be combined or fixed with each other are termed as Permanent Assembly. It can be selected by selecting a join to entity dialog box. E.g., Simulating the welding operations.

Multi-Tasking Activity:
A multi-task activity simulates an activity that performs a number of separate tasks in order to complete an operation. This means that the entities remain in the same place, but undergo several processes. Each task can have its own task duration time as well as different input and finish quantities. For example, the first task on a multi-task activity could wash entities in the activity, and the second task could dry them.

Question 1: Make an amendment in Q.2 of practical 2 as: The Scan activity should take a fabric from whichever queue is the fullest. After scanning, fabric types A, B, C need to be sorted in to queues Q4, Q5 and Q6 respectively for administration purposes. Queues Q4, Q5 and Q6 have their capacity increased to 15 pieces each. Review now performs an assembly operation. It takes one A, one B and one c quality fabric and stitches them together as a single product. At the review stage, 20% of pieces will be rejected which are sent to the scrap skip (capacity of 15 pieces) and the remaining 80% will be accepted and moved on to dispatch.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Run the model for 300 minutes. Which part type appears to be holding up the assembly operation at review? Was it necessary to increase the queuing capacity to 15? Why? What is the significance of the review input rule on the assembled (stitched) product?

Question 2: It is now important to model the review activity in the above stated question in to more detail. The cycle consists of a number of distinct sequential steps as shown in table 1.

Task Load two pieces in to machine As Enter Details Load one piece from quality B Stitch (Assemble) B to A Load one piece from quality C now Stitch (Assemble) C to A Check final product Unload final product

Time 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.1 0.5 1.2 0.1

Resource Requirement Operator Operator Operator Checker -

(a) Simulate the changes run the model for 300 minutes. (b) What is the significance of using a Multi-Tasking Activity?