IE 403 SIMULATION IE-403 SIMULATION LAAB # 1 Exploring ARENA

Arena is a true Microsoft Windows operating system application, so you can use shortcut keys such as Ctrl+C for copy. In Arena window, there are nine menus which are File, Edit, View, Tools, Arrange, Object, Run, Window and Help. The model can be split into two views: the flowchart view and the spreadsheet view (see Figure 1).

Model Window Flowchart View

Project Bar

Model Window Spreadsheet View Status Bar Figure 1. Arena Window

Project Bar hosts panels containing objects with which youll be working, displaying one panel at a time. In Figure 1, Project Bar is displaying Basic Process Panel which contains fundamental building blocks, called modules. Reports and Navigate are the other panels that are currently attach to our Project Bar. For more complex model, other panels will be needed which are Advanced Process, Advanced Transfer, Elements and Blocks. We can attach these panels to Project Bar by right-clicking on Project Bar, selecting Template Panel and attaching required panel from Template file. The steps that are followed to attaching Advanced Process panel are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. Click on Open button in Attach Template Panel Window, then your Project Bar should look like Figure 4. You should follow same steps for attaching other required panels.

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Figure 2. Attaching Template Panel 1

Figure 3. Attaching Template Panel 2

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Figure 4. Attached Advanced Process Panel

Modules
The basic building blocks for Arena modules are called modules. These are the flowchart and data objects that define the process to be simulated and are chosen from panels in the Project Bar. Modules come in two basic flavors: flowchart and data. Flowchart modules describe the dynamic process in the model where data modules define the characteristics of various process elements, like entities, resources and queues. (see Figure 5.)

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Flowchart Modules

Data Modules

Figure 5. Modules of Basic Process Panel

Model 3-1: Drill Press Example

Well start with a simple case. In this manufacturing system, parts arrive exponentially with mean 5. If a part arrives and finds the drill press idle, its processing at the drill press starts right away; otherwise, it waits in First-In First-Out (FIFO) queue. Processing time for drill press operation is TRIA(1,3,6). After completion of drilling process, parts leave the system. Run the simulation for 20 minutes.

Building Model
Since youll start to build a model, first you should define your project and running conditions. In order to do this, first select Run/Setup menu option. Then click on Project Parameters tab. Enter Project Title, Analyst Name and Project Description. Select what kind of output performance measures we want to be told about afterwards from Statistics Collection as shown in Figure 6. For this example, the queue, resource and entity statistics will be enough.

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Figure 6. Run Setup Option/Project Parameters Tab

Figure 7 shows the Replication Parameters tab of Run/Setup, which controls a number of aspects about the run. First we need to enter Number of Replication. If we request multiple replications, we need to tell Arena what to do between replication (Initialization of System and Statistics). Since we request single replication, we do not make any changes Initialize Between Replications part. In this case, system has not warm-up period but in many systems operations cannot start with doors opening. Then enter replication length and its time unit and if we have any terminating condition, we should enter this information into Terminating Condition box. The completed tab for this example is shown in Figure 7.

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Figure 7. Run Setup Option/Replication Parameters Tab

You can also change the animation speed from Run Speed tab of Run/Setup. After setting the run conditions, we can start construction of our model.

Create Flowchart Module: Click on Create from Basic Process panel and drag and
place it into Flowchart View. Open Create module by double-clicking it to get dialog box in Figure 8.

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Figure 8. Create Module Dialog Box (By Default)

First change the name of module, Entity Type. In the Time Between Arrivals area of the dialog box, we accepted the default Random (Expo) for the Type, changed the default Value of 1 to 5, and selected Minutes as the Units from the drop-down menu. Finally click OK to save changes and dialog box should look like Figure 9.

Figure 9. Create Module Dialog Box for Model 3-1

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Entity Data Module: Previously, we define Entity Type as Part in Create module. But
you might want to change some things about it. To do this, click the Entity data module in Basic Process panel. Figure 10. For instance you can change animation picture for Parts as

Figure 10. Entity Spreadsheet for Model 3-1

Process Flowchart Module: Click on Process module in Basic Process panel and drag it
into flowchart view. Double click on it and edit Process module. After entering name of the process, you need to select type of action. There are four action options. Delay: Simply indicates that a process delay will be incurred with no resource constraint. Seize Delay: It indicates that a resource(s) will be allocated in this module and a delay will occur, but that resource release will occur at a later time. Seize Delay Release: This option indicates that a resource(s) will be allocated followed by a process delay and then the allocated resource(s) will be released. Delay Release: This indicates that a resource(s) has previously been allocated and that the entity will simply delay and release the specified resource(s). 8 Atlm University, Department of Industrial Engineering Research Assistant Hale Akkocaolu & Assistant Professor Altan zkil

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If you select options except first one you should also add a resource or resources to seize and/or release. Then you should define Delay Type, Units and related values. The completed Process module for this model is shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Process Module Dialog Box for Model 3-1

Resource and Queue Data Module: Once youve defined this process module, your
model has both a Resource and a Queue, with names you specified for resource and default name of ProcessName.Queue for queue. If you want to change default name you can change it from spreadsheet view of Resource or Queue module.

Dispose Flowchart Module: The final flowchart module is the Dispose; Figure 12
shows how to edit it for this model.

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Figure 12. Dispose Module Dialog Box

Dynamic Plots
To make a plot, press Plot button ( clicking Add button in Plot dialog Box. ) on the Animate toolbar to get a blank Plot

dialog box, and then proceed as indicated in Figure 13. You can add expression by

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Figure 13. Plot Dialog Box for Model 3-1

While its legal to type in NQ(Drilling Center.Queue) manually for the Expression in the Plot Expressions secondary dialog box, youd first have to know that this is the right thing to type in, which you might not know. Arena provides Expression Builder, which you can access by right-clicking in any box that calls for some kind of Expression, and then selecting Build Expression. Figure 14 shows the Expression Builder Window after we expanded the Expression Type tree on the left to get at what we want for the queuelength plot. The label on the box in the upper right will change depending on what we select in the Expression Type tree; here it provides a drop-down list where we can specify the queue for which we want to know the Current Number in Queue. The current Expression box at the bottom is the Expression Builders answer, and clicking OK at this point pastes this text back into the Expression box from where we started with our right-click.

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Figure 14. Expression Builder Dialog Box

The plot for the number busy at the drill press is quite similar, with only two differences from Figure 13, both of which are in the Plot Expressions secondary dialog box. First make the Expression NR(Drill Press), an expression you can dscover with the Expression Builder via the Expression Type path Basic Process Variables >> Resouce >> Usage >> Current Number Busy, and Select Drill Press under Resource Name. Finally, make the Maximum 2 since we know this curve will always be at heigth zero or one. Final view of Model 3-1 is shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15. General View of Model 3-1

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IE 403 SIMULATION Running It

To Run the model, click the Go button ( ) in the Standard toolbar (or Run >> Go or

pres the F5 key); note that the buttons in this group are similar to those on a video player. The first time you run a model Arena checks your model for errors (or you can do this step by itself with the button on the run Interaction toolbar, or Run >>

Check Model or the F4 key); if you have errors, youll gently scolded about them now, together with receiving some help on finding and correcting them. The Arena box that appears at the end of the run asks if youd like to see the summary results. After you look at those reports (or if you choose not to), your model window will appear to be hung and you cant edit anything. Thats because youre still in run mode for the model, which gives you a chance to look at the plots and the final status of the animation. To get out of run mode and back to being able to edit, you have to click End ( ), just like on a video player.

Viewing the Reports

If youd like to see the numerical results now, click Yes in the Arena box that appears at the end of your simulation. This opens a new reports window in the Arena window. The Project Bar now displays the Reports panel, which lists several different Reports you can view, such as Category Overview, Category by Replications, and Resources. Clicking on each of these reports in the Project Bar opens aa seperate report window in the Arena window. Dont forget to close these report windows when youre done viewing them since they dont go away on their own if you simply go back to your model window; if you change your model then re-run it.

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