Performance enhancement using an expert mechanism in a manufacturing simulator

The need to include a mechanism that could assist in analysis and performance enhancement of simulation models has been under discussion for a long time. Many simulation packages on the market offer powerful ʹwhat if ʹ evaluation techniques for production planning. However, most of them rely on the userʹs own experience to interpret the results after each simulation, and anyone without such experience would find it difficult to make reasonable sense of the results before deciding on the next simulation run. This paper describes the use of an expert mechanism that could be integrated into a simulation package to facilitate the process of interpreting and assessing simulation results and in improving performance. It also discusses the need for checking stability of the model before reporting the model as realistic.