Developing simulation based decision support tool for cut-to-size plants

• Authors: Schmid Susanne;Christian Hillbrand;Schöch Robert
• Venue: Proceedings of the 2011 Grand Challenges on Modeling and Simulation Conference
• Year: 2011

Cut-to-size plants are very complex systems, which are used to process several kinds of panels. The acquisition, planning, implementation and operation of these systems impose lots of challenges. To support the process from retail to operation of cut-to-size plants, a new simulation based decision support tool has been developed. This planning tool offers entirely new opportunities for system experts to model, animate, simulate and emulate cut-to-size processes. In this paper, we discuss centrally and hierarchically controlled real time systems and derive a conceptual design to explain the implemented reproduction of the virtual system. We introduce the system architecture for our simulation based decision support tool and examine our approach to model large-scale plant systems. Apart from this, we present our method to process the orders which are generated on the control system and to handle them as discrete event tasks in the virtual system. Finally, based on the findings of the realization and testing of the tool, this paper discusses the opportunities arising from this approach as well as its future potential.