Development of an object-oriented simulator for material handling system design

Abstract

Simulation is perhaps the best way to study any nontrivial real world material handling system. But approaches offered in most conventional simulation languages, discrete event simulation, network simulation and continuous simulation lack a natural way of simulation modeling. It is believed that object-oriented simulation may overcome the intrinsic limitations of conventional simulation languages. Object-oriented Simulation (OOS) provides a more natural way of modeling complex phenomenon and a higher productivity during the incremental phase of development but it is not a panacea. In this paper, the authors relate their experiment with SmallTalk-80, an object-oriented language which gained popularity in the last few years. More specifically, the article begins with a few historical developments that lead to object-oriented programming. We will also present some characteristics of an object-oriented simulation product specialized in material handling system design that is currently under development. The product called CAD/MHS (Computed Aided Design for Material Handling Systems) is in its early phase of development but it is already very promising. CAD/MHS is being written in SmallTalk-80 on a Sun SparkStation, it features windowing capabilities, integrated graphics an code portability, three fundamental aspects that are considered essential in todays very fast changing market. We will also discuss the ergonomically designed interface and some of its components. The modeling aspects of certain material handling devices, the potential of such an environment and future developments to be included will also be discussed.