Simulation system for material handling system design

Abstract

The increasing use of computers to control material handling systems has generated a surge of interest in the general field of material handling. One of the most important and powerful tools available for design and/or study of the operation of complex systems and processes is simulation. Simulation has proven to be an extremely effective tool for addressing a wide variety of facility planning, design, scheduling, operations control and material handling problems. In material handling, exact analytical solutions are available for certain classes of problems only. Analytical models are inherently limited to a relatively low level of complexity, and as such cannot be employed for the analysis of most real life material handling situations. The need for more research attention to the development of realistic analytical models in this area is obvious. Additionally the size and complexity of most material handling systems defy exact deterministic analysis and it is within this context that simulation assumes an even greater importance. That simulation models have a number of limitations cannot be denied, but in view of the relative absence of powerful, realistic analytical models, simulation models are the only viable alternatives, provided that due attention is paid to the questions of model validity and experimental design. Although there have been a number of successful applications of simulation in designing material handling systems, these have been mostly of specific and limited scope, research of more comprehensive and general nature has been nearly absent until quite recently. Several commercial simulation packages and/or languages are available and may be used or adapted for simulating some material handling problems, yet none of these have been designed specifically to deal with material handling problems. This paper describes a software system specifically addressed to the important issues of the design of new or improved material handling systems, as well as the operation of existing systems. Tradiationally a major drawback with simulation has been the great amount of time and effort required to develop a model, this can be alleviated by the development of an interative, easy to use, material handling simulation system, such as the one described in this paper. Relevant representative research is presented, followed by description and general discussion of the system. The system is written entirely in FORTRAN 77 and requires no knowledge of programming to use, and will be made available to interested practitioners and researchers.