dsturrock

If you are actively using Simio, and especially if you are actively helping others, you will probably find yourself from time to time creating small models to test a behavior or illustrate an idea or solution. If this is something not already found in our SimBits (please look there first) then we are anxious to share your model with others. Ideally this is a completed, well documented, and polished model -- we love those and can add them to the software immediately and we will make sure you get full credit for your work. But we realize that not everyone has the time or skills to generate a model of that level, so we will gladly accept any contributions or even an idea for a good SimBit. But ideas and unfinished contributions do take more effort and hence more time to get released. If you want to minimize the time to release, please follow the guidelines in the attached files.Guidelines_For_SimBit_Documentation.pdfSimbits_Keywords_Categories_Description.xlsx Please email your SimBit submissions (model and doc file) to support@simio.com. You have sincere thanks from both Simio employees and our customers.

There are three features built-in that can help. 1) When you have already built an object with a table, you will find a table tool that will Convert To Repeat Group within that object. 2) When you want to create a table in the parent object, the lower part of the Add Table Data button allows you to build a table matching the schema of any repeat group (e.g. that new repeat group you just made in the included object). This creates the data table exactly matching that names and data types in the repeat group. 3) When you want to "pass" that new table as a property value, you can right click on that new repeat group and specify your table name as the reference property.

A few months ago Simio added support for animated objects. As an initial offering, we included sets of males and females in various attire that will run, walk, shuffle, applaud, crawl, dance, and many more actions. We are looking for other contributions of animated symbols that might commonly be found in models, such as workers in common industries perhaps doing common tasks. In particular we have many requests for health care personnel - doctors, nurses, orderlies, ... If anyone is interested in creating their own symbols or (legally) modifying any existing symbols, or if you are aware of any commercially available animated symbols that we should consider, please let me know.

First, create your Materials and BOM in Model as desired. Add an Element Reference Property of type Material to your ModelEntity. Let's call it MyMaterial. You can change it, but by default that new property will display under the General category. As you instantiate copies of ModelEntity, change the MyMaterial property to the material needed by that entity type. In the Consumed MaterialName property of Workstation, enter ModelEntity.MyMaterial.EachEntityRequiresUniqueMaterial.spfx Another equally good approach would be to have a data table with rows specific to each entity type and one of the columns would be an Element Reference Property of type Material. Then you would reference that column in Workstation.

Thomas, I have attached an example that I think does exactly what you requested. I put breaks on the key process steps so you can fast-forward to the interesting parts. (Again, file postings to the public area are very limited, so I will move this topic, then attach the file.)CreatingACustomFailure.spfx

"Must not work" - is this really a "failure" or just scheduled time when it cannot work. The latter is a bit easier. You just assign the capacity to 0 for a time period, then restore the capacity to 1. Use a Timer to create an event at time 7 hours, then every 24 hours. That event can trigger a process that delays for a random time of 0-2 hours, assigns capacity to 0, delays for another random time of about 10 minutes, then sets capacity back to 1.

Please elaborate on what you want to do. Are you looking for deterministic failures on demand? If so: -- One approach is to do this totally within processes using the Fail and Repair Steps. -- Another approach is to specify an Event-based failure on Server, then use process logic or even entity arrivals to trigger those events (and the resulting failures) on demand.

"Decision processes" like the evaluating ... ones require an instantaneous decision with no possibility for delay or interruption. For this reason breaks inside a decision process will not work.

If you have an easy way to keep track of arrivals and departures to the area (e.g., perhaps they arrive and depart via specific nodes), then the most efficient way is to increment and decrement a state as they arrive and depart. If your entities are just traveling in free space, a more computationally intensive approach might be required. Periodically or on-demand you would Search all entities and examine the x,y,z, location of each one compared to the coordinates of the area and record each entity that is in the area. Somewhere in between these two approaches might be to add logic to each entity so that it "knows" when it is entering and leaving this area and increments/decrements a state accordingly.

Here is a SimBit that solves the initial problem in a simpler and more elegant way than the previous model posted. VisitAllServersInAnyOrder.spfx VisitAllServersInAnyOrder.pdf

When you create a new State select MatrixFromTable:

Use the SetRow Step in a process.

That does not help and is in fact inaccurate. Academic is primarily just a licensing mode and is essentially Team or Enterprise edition with a different file format. Design/Team/Enterprise is a functionality level. Neither of these should have any effect on this capability. Please include a screen shot of the missing or not-working feature so we have a better idea what you are talking about.

There should be no difference in this area between Academic and Commercial or between Design and Team Edition. Please include a screen shot so we have a better idea what you are talking about.

Your expression in the screen shot looks right IF you have associated the proper table row with the entity. (One easy place to do that is in the Table Reference Assignments category of the Source object.) If you don't have such an association, then you need to explicitly state the row using the syntax: CortesPorMP[MyRow].NumeroCortes-1, where MyRow is a constant or expression indicating row 1 thru 4

Arrays can be dynamically sized to match a table (on initialization). Or you can use Storages (an element) which is essentially a dynamic array of objects. But lets keep this thread on topic.

Please attach your model.

You can add a state to the entity to hold this. See this SimBit for some ideas: RequestRideFromSameTransporter

You cannot assign values in tables unless you have Enterprise Edition. But you could use a state array sized at the maximum alternatives you will ever have.

I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to do, but perhaps you should be selecting a path using expressions in your path weights rather than selecting a destination. Or perhaps you could use network constraints. Here is a brief excerpt from our training course:

The basic technique is that instead of including C and D in the sequence, you include a "choice" node where the decision is made which one(s) to go to and in what order. I have attached a draft SimBit submitted by a user that illustrates the technique.FlexibleProcessingSequence.zip

No. Neither the rate table nor the changeover tables accept expressions.

You will need to change the CurrentCapacity of your resource manually based on some condition. For example, you might use the Off Shift add-on process trigger on a server. Within that process you might have a Decide step to determine if it should continue working, Followed by a Assign step to set the capacity back to 1. In the same process or elsewhere, you would need to put in some logic on when the shift should be ended. It could be as simple as Delay 30 minutes, then Assign capacity back to 0 (off shift). Or it could be more sophisticated.

Time varying arrival rates are random. Excerpt from Simio Help: Rate Tables The Rate Tables panel in the Data window allows the user to model situations where an arrival/event rate varies discretely over time. The number of fixed rate periods and the length of each rate period can be specified in the Rate table. The rate pattern automatically repeats during the running of the simulation. A Rate table is used by the Source object / Timer element to generate entities / events with a time-varying rate. Internally, a non-stationary Exponential distribution is used to calculate the rates. The rate units for the Poisson arrival process is Arrivals per Hour, regardless of the time units specified for the intervals of the rate table. In order to use a Rate Table with the standard Source object, set the Arrival Mode property in the Source to 'Time Varying Arrival Rate' and then select the appropriate Rate Table for the Rate Table property. The Source also includes a Rate Scale Factor property that can be used to easily modify the values within the table by a given factor instead of changing the values separately. For example, to increase the Rate Table values by 50%, simply specify the Rate Scale Factor within the Source to '1.5'.

We are looking for someone (or a group) who is interested in translating the Simio software to Spanish. We will supply you with a translation tool and the files containing the English, context, and a (probably poor) Google translation of it. Please contact me directly if you are interested.