Simulation modelling for complex production systems

Resource allocation and scheduling are the key areas in the operation of complex industrial systems. One can argue that the systems have grown in complexity over the years mainly due to the increased striving for performance enhancing combined with a greater degree of uncertainty and imprecision in system's external and internal environments. This complexity, always present in real life systems, makes the application of quantitative scheduling and allocation tools as problem solvers questionable in many instances. In this paper simulation technique is proposed as an analysis tool that proved to be an adequate, effective and economically efficient problem solver in the case of scheduling and resource allocation and utilization for a complex manufacturing system. The implementation described in the paper was developed using SLAMSYSTEM modelling environment.