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Thank you very much Mr. Glen Wirth. The suggested solution to the alternative routes worked very well. In our researches, we have to use more complex algorithms in order to both choose the machine and the AGV to be requested. For instance, I can choose which machine will be the next (from the nodelist) by using Fuzzy Logic and several variables at the same time, such as input buffers, output buffers, distances and so on. Is there some example of using the .NET code in order to define new rules, instead of simply the "Smallest Value First", etc? How can I insert these rules in my model? Regarding the "Schedule and Fire Events...Update states while model is runs" Example, I couldn't open the models, since that my Simio License is Academic. Could you save that in an Academic Version, please? Thank you for your consideration.

I suggest using Node Lists column in a table (see attached example) instead of using a sequence table, I setup a routing table with steps (representing sequences). The route table is a child of the entity table. The sources in the model are setup to reference row 1 of the entity table in Source1 and row2 of the entity table in Source2. Each step in the route table is associated to a node list....The node lists represent the "OR" condition. If the node list has Input@Server1 and Input@Server2, the transfer node will use the list to either sent it to Input@Server1 or Input@Server2 based on the selection goal. In the attached model, the selection goal "Smallest Value" and the selection expression is "Candidate.Node.AssociatedStationOverload"....This represents the sending the entity to the server least available input buffer capacity. I think this handles the scenario you explained. As for integrating with OPC, I would suggest looking at this example: http://www.simio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1381 It shows how to build custom steps and firing events using .NET code. If you wanted to communicate with OPC, you would use a custom step to read the OPC server. If you want the OPC server to interact with Simio. you would call a custom event. It is possible to setup the same of integration with an ERP system; although it is not recommended. For ERP integration, I would recommend using a data table with data binding. Since the data in an ERP system is much more static, it can be loaded at the beginning on the model run. Then the data can be referenced in the data table during the simulation run. RouteByNodeListsModel.spfx

On my machine both performed identically (about 1.5 seconds). You are not crazy - it's just your computer is playing head games with you. I cannot explain why they would run different on your machine. I downloaded the latest version of Simio. Now they run at the same speed. Thanks for all your help, though.

The attached add-in up above didn't support changing the width/height of links. I modified the source code to include this capability. Updated 2016-01-27...Updated DLL / Code to use Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5. I also included Alan's changes for changing the width / height on links. (Glen Wirth..Simio). 2016-10-24....See first post for latest files.

Thank you Glenn! I'm a new simio user and I don't know exactly how to use the step process. Could you explain me how to implement steps 2-4 of your approach? Thanks! Breno

Thanks, One feature that I would still like is a selective delete, or a rename. Is it currently possible to rename objects? It would be great if the functionality of this add was incorporated into the standard Simio package, allowing for a batch select.

Thank you. I probably should/will stop now. I have learned very much from these last two days (seeing how you code the steps). But, I did run your most recent four models. And got wild results. I added a column to your results. Ketils runtime | RunTime Approach 1,4 sec | 42 sec Facility model (Source-Connector-Sink) 20,0 sec | 13 sec Process that creates objects (Create-Destroy) 1,3 sec | 3.2 sec Process with Tokens (no entity objects) created by Timer 1,6 sec | 1.7 sec Process with single Token (no entity objects) that recycles hourly Your facilitymodel (was "objectapproach") still runs VEERY fast. Recall, mine took 53 seconds, yours took 3 in my previous message. Was hoping you could elaborate how yours get the 10x faster time? I also downloaded/installed .NET 4.5. No change in execution times. Have to check to see if Simio actually loaded the correct DLL-files, I am a bit unsure of the way .NET installed (it is an in-place replacement, overwriting the DLL-files, but keeping the 4.0 version numbering, ... That's another story ...

First, if you are not running XP, then I highly recommend updating to .Net 4.5 - this can make a dramatic difference in Simio execution speed. Second, I made an error in my model - I accidently ran one for 5200 weeks and the other for 5200 days. Perhaps you did something similar because 3 of the 4 models in your project had different run durations as well. I fixed that problem and while I was at it illustrated 4 different approaches to this simple model. All had periodic activity every hour for 5200 weeks (100 years). All at least track the number of activities logged (873,601 events) by adding an Integer State, an Assign to that state, and an OutputStatistic to make it display in the results. The approaches vary based on the objects involved. The approaches using objects provide additional statistics. If you run them in the Experiment window you can look to the Pivot Grid to verify results. RunTime Approach 42 sec Facility model (Source-Connector-Sink) 13 sec Process that creates objects (Create-Destroy) 3.2 sec Process with Tokens (no entity objects) created by Timer 1.7 sec Process with single Token (no entity objects) that recycles hourly Sorry for the confusion. I hope this helps.AcademicTestModel.spfx

Out of all that discussion, you managed to attribute to me something I didn't even say. I did give tips above like: and lots more tips here. But you apparently disregarded that advice when you did: You are obviously not building your test models entirely in processes. Are you using .Net 4.5? I built the model above the way you did and it took about 7 sec on my computer to run an experiment of 100 years. The process approach to the same model took under 1 sec to run (7 times faster). And of course if you wanted to run multiple replications, up to 16 concurrent replications would still require only about 1 sec (over 100 times faster). Here is that model:AcademicTestModel.spfx So, the short answer to your question "Is there something I can do to make Simio run faster?" is YES.

I get your message, Sturrock. Simio (current version) cannot run faster. That was my question.

SSS was used as shorthand for Source-Server-Sink. Actually no, the difference/advantages I cited were in comparison to products like Arena. Arena does not have objects, it's modules have no intelligence, it's entities are much like Simio tokens, Simio entities are MUCH more sophisticated, Simio has built-in statistics calculations, ... . A process/tokens approach in Simio is the only thing remotely comparable. Simio objects are so much more sophisticated that REAL systems can be more accurately modeled in Simio in less than half the time. The products are only superficially similar so why would one expect them to execute at the same speed? This is like comparing a car and a jet going 1000' down a runway and declaring the car "faster". But if your journey involves traveling 1000 miles and carrying 100 passengers, I think your conclusion would be much different. For such a simple problem, I'm sure you could program a solution in assembly code that would run MUCH faster. Why don't people do that? Because it would take too long to build the model and they value their modeling time and time to solution, more than the computer time. If your study is looking to see how solving a trivial academic problem in different ways can impact execution speed, then you should probably include the assembly code solution. But if your analysis involves any measure of how people solve real problems, then I think you need to start with a real problem and measure all aspects of project performance. Writing this is rather odd for me because within Simio staff I am often on the opposite site of this argument. I am continually (and successfully) arguing that we should put more time into optimizing Simio to make it run even faster. And in fact, at least quarterly we put significant effort into improving Simio execution speed, so Simio is getting steadily faster. But the other side of this argument is that computers keep getting faster, so the execution speed tends to take care of itself (particularly considering the cloud) and we can better serve our customers by improving the product features to permit even faster and more accurate modeling of real projects.

OK. Forget programming sims in C/Java. Arena is a competitor to Simio. Has many of the same advantages as mentioned by Sturrock. Arena executes 6x faster for M/M/1. They ought to be similar in speed? I still insist that I must be doing something wrong in the way I set up my Simio experiments. Just tried something even simpler this morning. Set up a Source/Create that generates 1 job/hr for 100 years. 876000 jobs. Jobs go to a Sink/Dispose via a connector/link. Simio: 53 sec (can be reduced if using tokens) Arena: 2 sec ?????

Wasn't Simio written in C#? Any simulator X is written in a "separate software" package Y. I meant programming directly in C#/java would probably produce a much faster package than creating a simulation in a specialized software package. If you working on simple SSS models, forget all this and just go straight to assembly... (joking)

I tend to agree with your colleagues. Simio is probably not the fastest executing product, in part because it has so much built into it that other products don't have. When you do trivial models you don't see that, but when you do "real" models you will. Computer time is cheap; skilled modeler time is not. If you can do a typical project in 2 weeks in Simio versus 6 weeks with a competing project what is that 4 weeks of time saved worth? What is the benefit of producing answers (and the resulting savings) sooner? And what is it worth to be able to model something accurately that would have been approximated in other products? To take your assertion from above, what if Simio happened to take 6X (say 60 minutes versus 10 minutes) to replicate that typical project? In the worst case to do 30 reps would take 30 hours of unattended computer time versus 5 hours. Who cares? You are still seeing your results more than 3 weeks earlier with dramatically reduced effort. Given that Simio can use multiple processors and most competitors don't, on a common quad processor machine there is little difference (8 hours vs 5 hours). And if you take advantage of Simio's ability to use up to 16 external processors, then Simio can actually produce results in less than half the time (2 hours versus 5 hours). All of that is assuming that 6X figure you used is accurate on a real system model - which I tend to doubt. The point is, as a modeler my top concerns include: --Can I model the situation accurately enough to generate meaningful results? --How much skill and effort (my time) does it require to do so? --How long (calendar time) until I can provide an answer to my stakeholders? In most applications I feel that Simio provides the best answer to the above questions.

[quote="ASagan" I would expect an simulation executed entirely in a traditional programming language to be many times faster than a simulation created in a seperate software package. Wasn't Simio written in C#? Any simulator X is written in a "separate software" package Y.

Still hoping to speed up Simio. Any suggestions? I MUST be doing something "wrong"; as described earlier, My (token-optimized) Simio is 6x slower than Arena or my Javasim or my Csim for the M/M/1 running 1 million jobs. My colleagues say "why are you so obsessed with speed"?

That's right... use maximize expression with the Search step, set limit to 1 (default). The new token will be associated with the row. Alternatively, you can save the row index using the advanced properties of the search step. The Search step feels like the most powerful step in Simio to me...

Hello. Under my M.Sc thesis i´m building a catalog of Simbits to address several characteristics of organizational/information-based business processes/workflows that can be difficult to represent in a simulation model. One of the issues that arose was how to verify the Simbits, i.e, how to prove that the solution really does what i mention it does. For example, one common situation in workflow management systems is the ability of a human resource to redo some work-item (activity/task instance) after its completion. The technical approach in Simio involved a Server object to represent a given task and a Worker object to represent the human resource. The worker has a probability of redo entities at that Server. Therefore, my question is: What is the best approach to show that this solution really works? Using the animation capabilities of Simio with Plots, Pies, Status Labels? Using for example Tally Statistics to record how many times the Worker redone the task during simulation time? Using Experiments maybe? I´m open to read your suggestions. PS: After completing my work i would like to contribute with my Simbits. What i need to do?

There are lots of videos now available on the Simio web pages: http://www.simio.com/resources/videos/index.htm http://www.simio.com/about-simio/learn-how-to-use-simio-simulation-software.html http://www.simio.com/academics/simio-academic-resources.htm http://www.youtube.com/user/SimioSimulation

Your project sounds interesting and valuable. It would be great to have your SimBits. See SimBit creation guidelines here: http://www.simio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1419 In terms of verification, that must certainly be done. Since you are attempting to help educate others you have several burdens to prove: 1) That the problem is real and significant 2) That your solution actually provides a correct solution to the problem, and 3) That you have illustrated a good (ideally the best) solution to the problem. The actual verification/validation process is too involved to discuss here - I suggest that you consult any good simulation textbook (Simio & Simulation by Kelton, Smith, Sturrock is my obvious recommendation .) But in general, all that is done outside of the SimBit. Due to the size and clarity goals of SimBits, they must be kept as small and simple as possible, so only items needed to explain and illustrate the ideas should be included. I look forward to seeing your submissions. If you can get us anything before October 1, 2013 you might even see it in the version 6 major release and get Bragging Rights that might even help with your thesis.

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.

Agreed Adam, very counter intuitive... especially considering that an entity can have a 'acceleration' of 0.1, an 'accelerationDuration' of 10, but NOT be accelerating because its already completed the acceleration. Therefore, the actual (non Simio) state of the entity is acceleration of zero as it is not accelerating. Regarding the unit conversion Adam, you can safely take the 3600 out of the expression if you ignore the units and set them as 'hours' for duration. You are double unit converting... first you are taking an hours expression (the calculation) and dividing it by 3600 to put it in seconds, then telling Simio it is in seconds. Just leave it as hours and it works. The calculation in your step is as follows: ModelEntity.DesiredSpeed/(ModelEntity.Movement.Acceleration/3600) in seconds. Desired Speed = 1 m/s, or 1/3600 h Acceleration = 1 m/s/s, or 1/3600^2 m/h/h Therefore, the calculation carried out is: (1/3600) / ((1/(3600^2))/3600) *3600 -- the final 3600 is the conversion from hours to seconds that Simio does because you have selected a unit of seconds. Leave it in hours and take off your 3600 conversion factor and it will all work. PS. The above reads clear as a good stout to me. If anyone feel frees to convert it to a nice light beer go right ahead!

One option would be to have the entities transfer into a station and use the Wait step to 'hold' them there until something else triggers them to exit with a Fire step. The advantage of having the entity transfer into/out of the station is that the statistics of the station are captured automatically - for example, the number (average/maximum) in the station, the holding time in the station, and the counts of number entered / exited the station. The Transfer and EndTransfer steps would be used to move the entities into/out of the station and the station.contents queue can be used to animate those entities waiting. See the attached example, built using Simio sprint 91. WaitInStation.spfx

Hey, I want to store informations for each entity in a data table or data sheet. The resulting table should contain a list of all entities and for example the corresponding throughput times. In the ideal case average an maximum values are also given in the table. Which posibilities are there in Simio? Regards Nadine

Nadine - Within Simio Enterprise edition, model or entity state information can be written to a table during the simulation run. Within all Simio editions, we have various Write steps that you can use within a Process to write specific entity or model information to either a *.csv file, Excel file or database. The UserDefined panel of steps can be found in the Processes window and includes DbWrite and other related database steps, ExcelWrite and other related excel steps and Write step.