Problem:

I require vehicles to transport my entities and there are vehicles that follow different work schedules. I
would like to select whichever vehicle is currently On Shift. If more than one vehicle is On Shift, I will
select whichever is closest to the entity that requires a ride.

Categories:

Schedules / Changeovers, Vehicles

Key concepts:

Entity Destination Type, Initial Node (Home), On Shift, Ride On Transporter, Schedules, TransporterList,
Transporters, WorkSchedule

Technical Approach:

The entity needs a ride on a Transporter to get from Server1 to Sink1. There are two possible Vehicles;
one follows a standard day shift and the other is on second shift, which begins at 3:00pm. A Transporter
List is used so the entity selects whichever Vehicle is available at the time.

Details for Building the Model:

Creating Vehicle Schedules

Go to the Schedules window by selecting Schedules along the left panel from within the
Definitions window.
Click on the Day Patterns tab and change the Name of the Day Pattern to StandardFirstShift.
Keep the contents of the Day Pattern with the default 8am-12pm (1) and 1pm-5pm (1).
Create a second Day Pattern by starting to type in the next row of the Day Pattern table. Name
this new Day Pattern StandardSecondShift.
Click onto the + next to this new Day Pattern to enter the times for this new shift.
Create a row where the Start Time is 3:00 PM and the End Time is 7:00 PM. The Value
should be 1.
Create another row where Start Time is 8:00 PM and the End Time is 12:00 AM. The
Value should be 1.
Click back onto the Work Schedules tab. Change the Name of the default Work Schedule listed
to FirstShiftWeek. Set the Days column to 1 so that this schedule will repeat the same daily
schedule for the duration of the simulation. Set the Day1 column to StandardFirstShift.
Create a new Work Schedule by creating another row in the table. Name the new Work
Schedule SecondShiftWeek. Set the Days column to 1 and the Day1 column to
StandardSecondShift.

Simple System Setup

 Place a Source, Server and Sink object in the Facility window. Place a TransferNode between the
Server and Sink. Connect the Source to the Server with a Path. Connect the Server to the Sink,
then the Sink to the TransferNode, and the TransferNode back to the Server with Paths. This
should form a circle so that traffic will travel in one direction from the Server to Sink to
TransferNode and back to the Server.
In the Source, set the Interarrival Time property to Random.Exponential(4) minutes.
Set the Processing Time of the Server object to Random.Triangular(3,4,5) minutes.
Place two Vehicle objects and change the Name properties to FirstShift and SecondShift.
Set the Initial Node (Home) property of both Vehicles to the name of the TransferNode
that was placed. Set the Idle Action and the OffShift Action to ParkAtHome.
Set the Initial Desired Speed of each Vehicle to .1 Meter per Second.
Set the Capacity Type of each Vehicle to WorkSchedule and set the FirstShift vehicles
Work Schedule property to FirstShiftWeek and the SecondShift vehicles Work Schedule
property to SecondShiftWeek.

Defining the Vehicle List

Go to the Lists window by selecting Lists along the left panel from within the Definitions
window.
Click on the Transporter in the ListData ribbon to create a new Transporter List. Add the names
of two vehicles that were placed into the model.

Selecting the Vehicle From the List

Within the Facility window, click onto the Output@Server1 node. Set the Entity Destination Type
to Specific and the Node Name property to Input@Sink1. This will ensure that the entity is
dropped off at the Sink and that it will not return back to the Server. Set the Ride On Transporter
property to True. Set the Transporter Type property to Select From List and set the
Transporter List Name to the name of the Transporter List that was created.

Testing the Model

Run the model beginning at 1:00pm. At this point in time, the First Shift vehicle is available. At
3pm, the Second Shift vehicle will come On Shift and they are both available until 5pm, which is
when the First Shift vehicle is no longer available.