Proceeding of the 2001 Winter Simulation Conference (Cat. No.01CH37304)

The Washington State Ferries are one of the largest ferry systems in the world. Accidents involving Washington State Ferries are rare events. However, low probability, high consequence events lead to difficulties in the risk assessment process. Due to the infrequent occurrence of such accidents, large accident databases are not available for a standard statistical analysis of the contribution of p... View full abstract»

The use of simulation in the healthcare area is not widespread when compared with other areas. The paper suggests that traditional approaches to modeling may not fully utilize simulation for tackling healthcare problems. Healthcare systems are often complex with multiple decision makers. A modeling approach is proposed which enhances stakeholders' understanding and intercommunications. The structu... View full abstract»

Tele-operated Load Haul Dump (LHDs) machines are becoming a common tramming solution throughout many mines at INCO Limited in Copper Cliff, Ontario, Canada. To reach maximum productivity from multiple teleoperated LHDs, the system must achieve a proper balance of LHD speed in the haulage network and haulage layout geometry. A study was inititated to determine if multiple LHDs, tramming in second g... View full abstract»

The paper presents a case study application of a cancer treatment center facility. A simulation model was created and integrated to a multi-objective optimization heuristic developed by the authors with the purpose of finding the best combination of control variables that optimize the performance of four different objectives related to the system. The results obtained show that the implementation ... View full abstract»

This paper describes an architecture for the simulation of a transportation system that uses agent technology to deliver people and goods from their origins to their destinations. The intent of the architecture is to analyze incremental changes to the existing transportation paradigm to determine what type of system we could plan for in the future. Each entity within the system that has computatio... View full abstract»

The work presented has the objective of building a simulation model to evaluate different alternatives for operation of a projected center for ambulatory surgery. For the construction of the model, a group of pathologies was selected and real data was taken from statistics of surgeries from a clinical hospital. The information was supplemented by the opinion of medical surgeons and expert anesthes... View full abstract»

A simulation-based cycle time-throughput curve requires a large amount of simulation output data, and an experimentation framework is needed to enhance the precision and accuracy of a simulation-based cycle time-throughput curve. In this research, approaches and solutions are presented on three prime issues: (1) the establishment of the simulation sampling strategies; (2) the determination of the ... View full abstract»

The research using artificial intelligence and computer simulation introduces a new approach for solving the job shop-scheduling problem. The new approach is based on the development of a neural network-scheduling advisor, which is trained using optimal scheduling decisions. The data set, which is used to train the neural network, is obtained from simulation experiments with small-scale job shop s... View full abstract»

The Municipality of Rome plans to introduce a taxi-bus system as a night service. A micro-simulation model was developed to estimate the needed information. Two major topics regarding this model are presented. First, the iteration process for input parameters is described. The number of potential customers is determined by means of an external modal split model. Two input parameters (frequency of ... View full abstract»

At one time or another we have all faced the doubters who wonder why they need to use simulation. We have wowed our potential clients with animation, left them in awe at our grasp on statistics, and preached on soapboxes to the multitudes about why they must hire us. More often than not, especially with new clients, we are turned away. This paper presents an approach to selling simulation to the d... View full abstract»

The paper presents a simulation model of the operations in the Labor and Delivery Rooms at Jackson Memorial Hospital (USA). A thorough analysis of the contents of the hospital's databases revealed that although there is a significant amount of data, some of it is not usable. Nonetheless, with the available data, it was possible to establish relatively good inputs for the simulation model. Furtherm... View full abstract»

E2M/Polytron builds high speed filling and packaging systems for Fortune 100 companies. In the last year we have developed a process to improve the quality of these systems that uses the new emulation technology in Brooks Automation's AutoMod simulation tool. The method, called PolySim, enables us to functionally test control logic on a simulated 3D model of a system prior to startup. O... View full abstract»

Presents the results of a simulation study for the solution of load-balancing problems in a semiconductor wafer fabrication facility. In the bottleneck area of photolithography the steppers form several different subgroups. These subgroups differ, for example, in the size of the masks that have to be used for processing lots on the steppers of a single group. During lot release it is necessary to ... View full abstract»

Facility layouts of existing or proposed production systems often form the basis of a dynamic simulation study to prove the design concept and to determine if the required throughput (jobs per hour) can be achieved. Traditionally, this requires the simulation engineer to duplicate the CAD drawing in the simulation environment before being able to model it. With sophisticated manufacturing systems ... View full abstract»

This paper describes a novel method for detecting the bottleneck in a discrete event system by examining the average duration of a machine being active for all machines. The machine with the longest average uninterrupted active period is considered the bottleneck. The method is widely applicable and also capable of analyzing complex and sophisticated systems. The results are highly accurate, disti... View full abstract»

A car-following and lane-changing microsimulation model of a two-lane road section has been written in SLX (Simulation Language with eXtensibility) as part of an extensive research project by the University of Rome Transport Department to qualify and quantify the environmental impact of traffic. The microsimulation model is part of a three-step approach, involving a traditional transport macroscop... View full abstract»

Due to regulation linking budgeting to performance and other government initiatives, government agencies need to quantify the benefits of proposed business strategy. This need can be satisfied by discrete event simulation. This paper details the approach used on a recent government project to assess the impact of proposed changes to a system and to provide a business case for change. The benefits ... View full abstract»

This paper presents an introductory overview and tutorial in simulation modeling and control of serial Kanban and CONWIP (Constant Work In Process) pull systems using ARENA/SIMAN 3.5/4.0. Card level estimation is discussed for both types of pull systems, and a heuristic method to adjust card levels controlling system WIP (work in process) is provided. The objective is to present a tutorial for stu... View full abstract»

Healthcare management operates in an environment of aggressive pricing, tough competition, and rapidly changing guidelines. Computer simulation models are increasingly used by large healthcare institutions to meet these challenges. However, small healthcare facilities serving the poor are equally in need of meeting these challenges but lack the finances and personnel required to develop and implem... View full abstract»

Using simulation, Headway Technologies predicted that increasing staffing among a group of already lightly loaded machine operators - "overstaffing" would significantly improve throughput of its factory. This was counterintuitive since the operators already had significant idle time. Yet time studies confirmed that bottleneck equipment for which these operators were responsible was spending over 2... View full abstract»