Simulating a manufacturing system: an introduction

Published October 2003. Reviewed December 2013. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalogSimulation is a powerful analytical tool for designing or experimenting with complex systems. Simulation has been defined as the process of designing a model of a real system and conducting experiments with this model either to understand the system’s behavior or to evaluate various strategies for operating it (Pegden et al. 1995). When we talk about real systems,\ud we make the distinction between the real system (existing or planned) and the simulation model of the real system