ESCUELA SUPERIOR POLITCNICA DEL LITORAL

INGENIERA Y ADMINISTRACIN DE LA PRODUCCIN

INDUSTRIAL
Arena Simulation Softare
Nadia Moromenacho Sols
Escuela Superior Politcnica del Litoral
Guayaquil, Ecuador
nmoromen@espol.edu.ec
ABSTRACT
This paper presents information about the simulation language rena. Some features of
this simulation soft!are, also presents the ad"antages and disad"antages of the soft!are
described. rena is a programming language !hose main feature is the ability to adapt to
the le"el of programming required in each case, e"en !ithin the same model. This allo!s
rena not lose fle#ibility, including the possibility of using general purpose languages
such as $icrosoft %isual &asic or '. The rena Simulation Soft!are is (iscrete E"ent
Simulation most used in the !orld.
lso this document is a case !here the soft!are !as applied rena. This case is "ery
interesting, a clothing manufacturer !ant to model their regional distribution !ithout
disrupting business or affect customer satisfaction.
Keywords: rena, 'haracteristics, ad"antages and disad"antages of the soft!are and case study.
ESCUELA SUPERIOR POLITCNICA DEL LITORAL
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1. Introduction
(iscrete e"ent simulation allo!s you to
quic)ly analy*e a process or system+s
beha"ior o"er time, as) yourself ,!hy- or
.!hat if. questions, and design or change
processes or systems !ithout any financial
implications. The rena Simulation Soft!are
is the most used (iscrete E"ent Simulation
Soft!are in the !orld.
rena is a programming language !hose
main feature is the ability to adapt to the le"el
of programming required in each case, e"en
!ithin the same model. This allo!s rena not
lose fle#ibility, including the possibility of
using general purpose languages such as
$icrosoft %isual &asic or '.
. !e"inition and Conce#ts
!e"inition: rena /created by 0oc)!ell
Soft!are1 is an application that allo!s the
reali*ation of simulation !ith a high le"el of
detail models, both conceptually and !ith the
use of animations.
Some conce#ts:
$ntities: representing people, ob2ects, or
anything else, real or imagined, that mo"e
through the model, can cause changes in
system status or affect others.
An attri%ute is a characteristic common to
all entities, but !ith a specific "alue to
differentiate from one another. ttributes are
local "ariables /local for each entity1. rena
can assign these attributes automatically or be
defined by yourself if needed.
&aria%les '(lo%al): "ariable is a piece of
information that reflects some characteristics
of the system, no matter ho! many or !hat
types of entities can be. There are t!o types
of "ariables3 %ariables manufactured by rena
/number of entities in the queue, number of
employed resources, simulation time, etc.1
and user4defined "ariables /number of entities
in the system, etc.1.
Resources represent e"erything necessary for
a process3 people, machines, tools, etc. They
are static model elements and they are housed
in institutions, potentially by different user4
defined states3 busy, free, and faulted, etc.
Stations: rena represents the systems by
di"iding them into subsystems. These
subsystems are called stations.
Con*eyors and trans#orters3 an entity may
be transferred from one station to another
in different !ays3
direct connection3 the entity should not !ai
t until it is a"ailable to any means transport.
'on"eyors3 they function as con"eyor belts.
5nce the entity requests the access from one
station to another, must !ait for there site in
the tape to start the transport.
Transporters3 in this case there are a number
of "ehicles responsible for conducting the
transport. The entity after requesting a
"ehicle has to be e#pected to be a"ailable to
able to transport.
Accumulators statisticians: they act as
accumulators statisticians as the simulation
progresses, such as3 the number of parts
produced, total time !aiting in a queue,
number of entities that ha"e gone through a
tail, the longest that has remained in the
queue, the total of time passing in the system
for all entities that are disappearing, the area
under the cur"e of some functions, other.
An e*ent is something that happens in an
instant of time /simulated1 that can ma)e
change, attributes, "ariables, or accumulators
statisticians, such as3 the arri"al or the output
of the system of an entity, the end of the
ESCUELA SUPERIOR POLITCNICA DEL LITORAL
INGENIERA Y ADMINISTRACIN DE LA PRODUCCIN
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simulation. t rena, this information is
stored in a calendar of e"ents.
Simulation cloc+: the current time in the
simulation is sa"ed in a "ariable called
simulation cloc).
Start and sto#: rena does many things
automatically, but is not able to decide issues
of modeling such as start and stop. The user
is !ho should determine the conditions for
appropriate start, ho! much should last the
e#ecution or if it should stop at a particular
moment in time !hen a specific e"ent occurs.
,. Characteristics
1
The rena Simulation soft!are has some
characteristics.
6lo!chart modeling methodology
includes a large library of pre4defined
building bloc)s to model your process
!ithout the need for custom
programming
'omplete range of statistical
distribution options to accurately
model process "ariability
bility to define ob2ect paths and
routes for simulation
Statistical analysis and report
generation
Performance metrics and dashboards
0ealistic 7( and 8( animation
capabilities to "isuali*e results beyond
numbers
-. Ad*anta.e

9mpro"e "isibility into the effect of a

system or process change
:
https3;;!!!.arenasimulation.com;!hat4is4
simulation;discrete4e"ent4simulation4soft!are
7
https3;;!!!.arenasimulation.com;!hat4is4
simulation;discrete4e"ent4simulation4soft!are
E#plore opportunities for ne!
procedures or methods !ithout
disrupting the current system
(iagnose and fi# problems
0educe or eliminate bottlenec)s
0educe operating costs
9mpro"e financial forecasting
&etter assess hard!are and soft!are
requirements
0educe deli"ery times
&etter manage in"entory le"els,
personnel, communications systems,
and equipment
9ncrease profitability through o"erall
impro"ed operations
/. !isad*anta.es
The disad"antages are not many. &ut a
possible dra!bac) is the cost of soft!are and
the adaptation of this application.
0. Case study
Then a case !here the rena simulation
soft!are facilitates migration distribution
model !ithout ser"ice interruption occurs.
This case can be found on the !ebsite of the
company 0oc)!ell utomation rena.
Simulation Facilitates Apparel Manufacturers
Transition from National to Regional
Distribution
Arena Simulation Software Enables Apparel
Company to Migrate Distribution Moel wit!out
Disruption to Ser"ice
Background
A ma#or apparel manufacturer wante to moify
its istribution operations as part of an effort to
fulfill customer satisfaction re$uirements% A
corporate re&engineering stuy !a con"ince
t!e company to transition from a national
istribution center to a regional istribution
system%
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Challenge
Apparel manufacturer neee to transition from
National to Regional istribution moel wit!out
isrupting business or negati"ely impacting
customer satisfaction%
Solution
A simulation moel e"elope wit! Arena
e"aluate t!e flow of prouct from
manufacturing to istribution to customer% T!e
moel incorporate !istorical customer orers
'more t!an ()*)))+ay,* source s!ipments from
manufacturing to t!eir istribution facilities an
transportation re$uirements for all s!ipments%
T!e Arena moel e"aluate nine ifferent
migration scenarios uner "arious !istorical
an pro#ecte system ata re$uirements% Daily
staffing an transportation plans were inclue
as input to t!e moel% -y utili.ing a user&frienly
E/cel interface* users were able to c!ange
s!ipping* recei"ing an transportation staffing
at eac! of t!e istribution facilities on an !ourly
basis%
T!e moel results inclue aily "alues on o"er
0)*))) proucts at eac! istribution facility1
incluing in"entory "alue an misse orers%
Staging re$uirements an oc2 utili.ation
statistics were also calculate on a aily basis*
as were aily transportation costs to an from
eac! istribution facility%
Results
T!e simulation moel emonstrate t!at se"eral
pea2 ays of prouct receipts an s!ipments
were greatly impacte by t!e staffing allowances
an capacities at t!e regional istribution
facilities% During t!e analysis p!ase* t!e Arena
consulting team was able to ientify t!e staffing
re$uire to meet target customer satisfaction
le"els%
T!e moel results etaile t!e costs associate
wit! eac! scenario an* along wit! customer
satisfaction criteria* pro"ie a statistical basis
for selecting a transition scenario% T!e range of
costs among t!e scenarios was greater t!an 3()
million% T!e simulation results* along wit!
optimal staffing le"els for t!e c!osen scenario*
pro"ie a smoot! transition of istribution
systems for t!e company%
1. Bi%lio.ra#hy
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0oc)!ell utomation. /s.f.1. Roc2well
Automation. 0ecuperado el 8: de
gosto de 7=:G, de
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soft!are