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The Extended Flow Library discussed in this thread is now obsolete. Most of its objects are now integrated into the Simio Flow Library or included in the new Candidate Library: http://www.simio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1740 The built-in Flow library includes very powerful features and capability, but is currently limited in scope to just a few basic objects. While we are enhancing that built-in library based on your feedback, we have provided an extended set of flow-related objects. This library includes objects such as Solidifier, Liquefier, Filler, Extractor and Stockpile. A Solidifier can be used to convert a specified quantity of flow into discrete entities. A Liquefier converts a discrete entity into an outbound flow. The Filler is similar to a Combiner that combines input flow of a specified volume with a discrete entity and the combined entity departs the Filler. The Extractor is the flow equivalent of the Separator. It will separate a batch member entity from the parent entity, with the flow transfer of the batch member entity then discrete transfer of the parent entity once flow is complete. The Stockpile object is similar to a Tank with different animation graphics. ExtendedFlowLibrary.zip As we receive customer feedback on both the Flow Library and the Extended Flow Library we will probably build more of this type of capability directly into the Flow Library. But in the interim, hopefully this extended library will help in your modeling. Like all Simio-provided libraries, this library is open so you can look at how it was built, learn from it, and subclass your own objects to improve them. But unlike our built-in libraries, this is not fully supported (although we can provide some help) and we may not continue enhancing it, particularly if we decide to build this capability into the base Simio products. We are anxious to receive your feedback on this library.

The Combiner object in the standard library assumes that you have a parent entity representing a box or container and members representing the parts that are combined into the parent. In some cases you don't want to have a parent, you just have a number of entities that you want to temporarily join together and process as one. The attached project contains an object of type Node that represents a very simple Combiner and a TestModel to illustrate how it works. The node simply asks for a Batch Size and then holds the incoming entities until that batch size is reached. It creates a "normal" batch so it can be used with the Separator as long as you treat all outbound entities as the same. CombinerNode.spfx Requires Sprint 5.80 or later.

Hello, I am interested in having routing information read into a model from an Excel spreadsheet. The basic problem is that I have several entity types that must be processed at one of many servers. There are capability restrictions (i.e. EntityA can only be processed at Server1, EntityB can be processed at Servers1, 2, 3, etc). I have a “capability matrix” as input data that is a table in Excel showing where each entity type can be processed. In the Simio model, I am using a transfer node to route each entity to an available (and capable) Server by using the “Select from list” entity destination. My customer is interested in analyzing the impacts of changing capabilities of the servers. Currently, all other inputs to the model are fed in using bound Excel files. However, the routing logic requires lists, which I have to manually create and/or edit. I would like to have these bound to a data table, or somehow reflect the data in the master input Excel file. Thoughts? Thanks, Adam

Assuming you have a property or state named TargetTime, then you could delay each individual entity by "TargetTime-TimeNow". Regardless of the times that individual entities arrive, they will all finish their delays at TargetTime and then move forward together.

So this may be an easy answered question, but I'm at a roadblock. I want to have an entity wait in a server until a specific date and time. Once that date and time is reached within the model run, I need it to fire and move to the next server. This would be easy if it were one entity, but essentially a batch all arrives at different times and then needs to wait until that date/time to ALL move at the same time into a combiner. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Does your curriculum feature old, tired simulation software? Sure, its easy and convenient to teach the same thing year after year, but is that really the best for your students? In software terms, 20 years old is, well you know... -- Hinders your efforts to expose students to the latest in success tools and techniques. -- Damages your institution's reputation for being state-of-the-art. Solution -- Adopt state-of-the-art Simio that is guaranteed to breath new life into your simulation curriculum! We think you will find our academic program to be quite attractive. We make top quality, state-of-the-art software available to professors, students, and researchers at little or no cost. We have two academic products: Academic Version We provide full-capability software to academic institutions at no charge. We will provide as many licenses as you need for installation on any computers owned by an institution whose primary business is teaching. This software may be used in student labs as well as by professors and researchers. The activations supplied are generally for two years. It is expected that the licenses will be renewed on an annual basis, still at no charge. This software has no model size limits and is functionally equivalent to Simio Design Edition including discrete and continuous modeling, object library development, and 3D animation. Student Version We also provide full capability software for undergraduate and graduate student use on their own computers. We will supply the institution with a link that that can be passed on to students where they can obtain their own software and activations for a nominal fee. The activations supplied to students are for a full year. This software has no functional limits and is equivalent to Simio Design Edition. Academic License Limitations The above software may not be used for commercial work. This program makes top quality, state-of-the-art software available for academic use at little or no cost. It is only fair that companies who realize financial benefit from simulation should pay market value for any software and services required. Academic software may not be used to directly benefit a commercial entity. If any type of simulation results are shared privately outside the academic institution, then the application is considered to be commercial and a commercial software license must be used. Definition of Academic Organizations: Many commercial organizations such as service companies and hospitals also have an academic component that offers training or teaching. An organization will be considered to be commercial unless formal education is the primary service delivered or prior written authorization from Simio LLC is provided. People: Only currently enrolled students and currently employed professors/teachers are authorized to use academic software. Projects: We understand that student projects often involve commercial systems. Simulation results consist of the models, animations, reports, summarized results, and other similar artifacts of a simulation project. How results are used seems a reasonable way to differentiate commercial applications. •If any results are shared privately with the commercial organization, then the project will generally considered to be of commercial benefit and is an invalid use of academic software. In this case a commercial version of Simio must be used. •If all results pertaining to a project are either not shared or are made publicly available (such as a published thesis or undergraduate student projects published on a publicly accessible web site) then it is typically considered to be a valid use of academic software. •For borderline or questionable projects contact Simio for a predetermination or a possible exception to this policy. Get Started Now Review the Academic Quick Start Page for full information and a link to get the software today (request must be made by faculty member).

We have added a Simio add-in that will import a model (objects and links) from a spreadsheet. The most DLL, spreadsheet and code are provided in a later post.. NOTE: You do not need the code to run the add-in. All you need is the ImportObjectsAndLinksFromSpreadsheetAddInDLL_V5.zip and ImportObjectsAndLinks_v5.xlsx. The code is also provided in case you wish to make changes to the add-in. You can run the addin just using the DLL and spreadsheet. All you need to unzip the DLL into C:\Users\\Documents\SimioUserExtensions. You might need to add the SimioUserExtensions under MyDocuments (C:\Users\\Documents) in case it does not already exist. Once you run the add-in in Simio, use the attached spreadsheet. It should create a Source, Server, Sink with an Entity and a Vehicle. If you want to use the code, you will need to update the project properties..under build. The output path needs to be C:\Users\\Documents\SimioUserExtensions...See attached screen shot. Give it a try. Let us know if you have any questions. Updated 2106-10-24.....Added support for repeating properties and wrapped import using BulkUpdate method to speed up import . ImportObjectsAndLinksFromSpreadsheetAddIn_DLL.zip ImportObjectsAndLinksFromSpreadsheet_Code.zip ImportObjectsLinksVertices.xlsx

Simple approach: Take advantage of the fact that each model has an OnRunInitialized process that is called at the start of each run. --Create a table that contains all your initialization data. This might optionally be bound to an external file and automatically read if it changes frequently. --Define the OnRunInitialized process to search that table, create the entity(s), initialize the entity, and transfer it to the correct location. Look at the Simio Example (not SimBit) named RPsixample for an example of this approach applied to a simple scheduling model. More comprehensive approach: Take advantage of the fact that each object has an On Initialized add-in process that is called at the start of each run. --Create a table that contains all your initialization data identified by object instance. This might optionally be bound to an external file and automatically read if it changes frequently. --Define the On Initialized process to search that table for a matching object instance, create the entity(s), initialize the entity, and transfer it to the correct location. This can also set object characteristics as well, such as status, capacity, failure data, learning curve, … While this could be used by simply specifying the add-on process in each object instance, it is even more powerful if you create a custom object that includes a custom object-specific initialization process.

I am working on a rather large model, and the starting conditions are rather important. I would like to establish exact start conditions prior to each excursion. For example, if I have 100 servers, I would like a certain number and type of entity in each server once I begin the run. Is it possible to establish this starting condition in some way? I cannot run my way to this condition due to both changes caused by random number generation and the unexplainable complexities that brought us to the current conditions.

The attached model illustrates 2 concepts: 1st the ability to pick up Entities mid-route, 2nd how to create a 2 Task Selection Strategy when deciding who to pick up. In this model, there are high priority Entities (illustrated by the red Entities) that are created at HiPrioSource. These Entities are to be loaded first, even with low priority Entities waiting. And when the high priority Entity is loaded the vehicle takes it directly to the sink. However, when a low priority Entity is loaded, the vehicle is supposed to stop and pick up any other waiting low priority Entities that are waiting along the vehicle’s route to the sink. So, to maximize the number of Entities loaded, the vehicle wants to pick up at the farthest location (LowPrioSource1) so that it can pick up any waiting Entities as it passes through LowPrioSource2. Now the Vehicle chooses the next Entity to pick up based on its Task Selection Strategy where it can be Largest/Smallest Priority or Largest/Smallest Distance – but it can’t be both. In this example, we want to FIRST make the decision based on Priority, THEN if we know its low priority we want to base it on Largest Distance. Because we want to first base it on Priority we set the Task Selection Strategy to Highest Priority. This means that it will handle the first tier of the decision process for us. Creating the second tier requires us to customize the Standard Library Vehicle. So we subclass a Vehicle and add an Entity Reference State called ‘NextEntityToPickup’. Then we Override the OnVisitingNode Process in this new vehicle and about 2/3s of the way through the process, after Decide-IfIdel and before the Plan Visit-NewTransportationTask we place a Search step. This Search Step searches the QueueState ‘MyVehicle.CurrentNetwork.VisitRequestQueue’ (the queue of all waiting Entities) with a Search Type of ‘MaximizeReturnValue’ with a Return Value Expression of ‘MyVehicle.NetworkDistanceTo.Node(Candidate.Entity.CurrentNode)’ – meaning the Entity that is farthest away from me. This Step will find the farthest Entity out of all waiting Entities, so on the Found Branch we assign NextEntityToPickup the value of ‘Object’ – meaning the specific Entity that is farthest away. *Note, we have to reset the NextEntityToPickup State before this Search. Now, in the OnEvaluatingTranportRequest Add-on process we place a Decide Step with the following expression ‘Math.If((MyVehicle.ResourceState==0) && (MyVehicle.NextEntityToPickup != Nothing), MyVehicle.NextEntityToPickup == Entity, True)’ and a Reject Assignment on the False Branch. So, this expression says If the MyVehicle is Idle and there IS a value for NextEntityToPickup, Then “am I the next Entity to pick up?” (which gets evaluated by every Entity), if it is not idle or there is no value for NextEntityToPickup then continue on – the vehicle will pick you up. So, this combination of letting the Vehicle handle the Priority mixed with Finding > Assigning > and Checking the Farthest Entities will give you the 2 tiered Task Selection that was desired. Also, don’t forget that this Vehicle is supposed to pick up low priority Entities Mid-Route. Doing this requires further Customization of the OnVisitingNode Process. Right after the Execute-Entered Add-On Process Step we placed a Search Step that checks to see if there is any High Priority Entities in the Ride Station. If the Ride Station has a High Priority Entity OR it is completely empty, the process will continue on as normal. If the Ride Station is NOT empty and it is carrying a Low Priority Entity, that means we can try to pick up more Entities along the way. To do this, we just force the Vehicle to try to DropOff/PickUp at this node (which it would not do normally, unless it was at the dropoff node). If there are no Entities to pick up or drop off at this node, both the Pickup and Dropoff Nodes will fail and the token will eventually route itself out of the process and the Vehicle will continue on. If there are waiting Entities, the vehicle is forced to pick them up by avoiding the logic that would normally tell the Vehicle to exit the node. Custom Pickup Process.zip

The standard library vehicle has the option of a loading and unloading time per entity, but it is often difficult to model a situation where a vehicle stops for a specified time (like a bus or train). This object (with an example model) adds a single reference property and a single step to the standard Vehicle to allow you to specify that time. Smple, but convenient. VehicleWithFixedLoadTime.zip Done using Sprint 68

Hi, I have made an example model illustrating how to do what you are asking. In the attached model, I have 1 entity that requires a 40 hour delay & a Secondary resource for processing. I have a Day Shift worker and a Night Shift worker, each work 12 hour shifts, and the Entity seizes whichever is availabe from a list upon entering the Server. By default, if a secondary resource is seized, the worker will attempt to finish the current job before going off-shift. This is nice if there is something like 15 or 20 minutes left on a job, but not ideal if there is 28 hours left... What I did was created a process that gets Triggered by the Workers' OffShift Add-On process that Interrupts Processing > Releases the Worker > and Transfers the Entity back into the Server Object - which will then start the whole processing process all over again and seize whatever worker is available. Note that in the Interrupt Step, I set the Interupted Process Action to Resume Delay, and the Save Remaining Process Time property to Record ths remaining processing time to the ModelEntity.ProcessTime State (which is initially assigned to 40 in the Source and then gets updated upon every interrupt) For more examples of Interrupting processes see the SimBits: InterruptibleOperator, InterruptingAcrossMultipleServers, & InterruptingServerWithMultipleCapacity Thanks InterruptingProcessingToSwitchWorkers.spfx