Performance analysis of comercial simulation-based optimization packages: OptQuest and Witness Optimizer

The objective of this study is to evaluate and compare two commercial simulation-based optimization packages, OptQuest and Witness Optimizer, to determine their relative performance based on the quality of obtained solutions in a reasonable computational effort. Two well-known benchmark problems, the pull manufacturing system and the inventory system, are used to evaluate and compare the performance of OptQuest and Witness Optimizer. Significant validation efforts are made to ensure that simulation models developed in Arena and Witness are identical. The experimental results indicate that both optimization packages have good performance on the given problems. Both packages found near-global optimal (or satisfactory) solutions in an acceptable computation time.