Buffer without Server/WorkStation

[luizfvpereira]

I'm addressing a Multi Product Multi Routing situation.

What's the best way to model a buffer without using the Server or WorkStation blocks?

N machines are connected to M machines producing different products with alternative routing. Therefore, having a common buffer where entities coming from different machines could wait for the first available machine in any alternative route is very important.

My question is whether this would perform better with stations or storages (or any other object in Simio). I intend to experiment on Buffer size to optimize space requirements. This would be done using experiments hence the chosen object/method needs to be suitable for that.

Scheme:

 [n1]             ___________          [m1]
[n2]            |           |         [m2]
[n3]            |  Buffer   |           .
  .             |___________|           .
  .                                   [M ]
[N ]

 

Thank you in advance

[ptkolodziejczyk]

In my opinion you should use a custom node with a station element. Additional storage elements might be required depending on how sophisticated are your rules for job allotment. You can even add extra storage elements to the servers if pre-selection per machine is desired.

Mind that a station represents a physical location and an entity can only be in a single one at a time, while a storage element is a custom queue, and an entity can be in multiple of these queues (but not twice in one queue).

In a simple situation an entity (job), having left server n, automatically enters the buffer station at the node and is ranked, based e.g. on priority. Then, when a server m finishes a job, the first entity in line goes to it.