Abstract
In our research we investigate the output accuracy of discrete event simulation models and agent based simulation models when studying human centric complex systems. In this paper we focus on human reactive behaviour as it is possible in both modelling approaches to implement human reactive behaviour in the model by using standard methods. As a case study we have chosen the retail sector, and here in particular the operations of the fitting room in the women wear department of a large UK department store. In our case study we looked at ways of determining the efficiency of implementing new management policies for the fitting room operation through modelling the reactive behaviour of staff and customers of the department. First, we have carried out a validation experiment in which we compared the results from our models to the performance of the real system. This experiment also allowed us to establish differences in output accuracy between the two modelling methods. In a second step a multi-scenario experiment was carried out to study the behaviour of the models when they are used for the purpose of operational improvement. Overall we have found that for our case study example both, discrete event simulation and agent based simulation have the same potential to support the investigation into the efficiency of implementing new management policies.
Highlights
Simulation has become a preferred tool in OperationResearch for modelling complex systems
We found a disparity in the quantity of work comparing System Dynamics (SD) and Agent Based Simulation (ABS) or SD and Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to that comparing DES and ABS and we have found no work on comparing the accuracy of DES and ABS results for the study of human centric systems
When looking at the mean value of customer waiting times (Table 4), Scenario 3 (S3) has the smallest customer waiting times in the fitting room operation and the paired-t CI in conjunction with the Bonferroni inequality procedure confirms that S3 is the best solution (Table 5)
Summary
Simulation has become a preferred tool in Operation. Studies in human behaviour modelling have received increased focus and attention from simulation research in the UK [Robinson 2004]. The research in human behaviour modelling has been applied to various application areas such as manufacturing As found in the literature, some researchers choose Discrete Event Simulation (DES) as a means to investigate their human behaviour problems; others choose Agent Based Simulation (ABS) for this purpose. The issue here will be how accurate and difference the simulation output will be when we model human behaviour using both DES and ABS model. The representation of human behaviour contains complexity and variability; when investigating such systems it is very important to choose a suitable technique. We have done some quantitative experiments and our findings will be discussed in this paper
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