Reduced simulation model for flow analysis in a sawmill internal supply chain

Accurate and simple simulation flow model is useful to make decision at the right time to manage supply chain or workshop. To do that, different reduction model complexity approaches have been proposed. One of them is to associate discrete event model of bottlenecks and continuous model of other work centers according to the theory of constraints. The continuous approximation is used only do determine how the bottlenecks are fed. Different continuous model have been proposed in the past. This paper focuses on the association of regression trees and neural networks in order to benefit of the advantages of each other. This approach is used for the modeling of a sawmill workshop and the results are compared with those obtained previously by using only CART model or neural network model.