Redesign of Desalinated Water Distribution Station in Abha City for

Optimal Distribution
Abstract
A supply of water is critical to the survival of life as we know it.
People need water to drink and cleaning for public health. Many areas are
water poor while others are water rich and Abha area is considered as a
water poor area so in order to meet the residential demands for water, the
Saudi Government built a water desalinated system that brings desalinated
water from Alshegag on the red sea to Abha and Khamis Mushayet cities.
In summer time, people in Abha area suffer from the shortage of
water supply due to higher demand on water. So it is rare that the people of
Abha receive water through the local water network. Therefore; the people
of Abha seeks to satisfy their needs of water by buying water tanks (white
tanks) in three different sizes; large sizes, medium sizes or small sizes.
People whom seeks to buy water tanks in summer has to wait ten days in
average. So the lead time for their orders is about 10 days and they have to
wait in line till they get their turn. From queueing theory view point, this
waiting time is a long time.
The objective of this project is to simulate the current situation as a first
step to solve this long waiting time problem by using Arena simulation
software and calculate the performance measures such as waiting time, total
number of customers waiting in the queue and other measures. Once the
current situation is simulated, the distribution station will be redesigned for
optimization purposes. The new design and layout will be simulated using
Arena simulation software and calculate the performance measures.
Therefore, the performance measures for the current situation and proposed
redesign will be compared and optimal solution will be decided and reached.
1. Ali Mohamad Ali Alshahri – King Khalid University – Industrial
Engineering Department 426810408

2. Ali Abdoh Mohamad Awaji– King Khalid University – Industrial

Engineering Department 426811012