David Hartvigsen - SimQuick: Process Simulation with Excel, 3rd Edition

SimQuickProcess Simulation with ExcelThird Edition David Hartvigsen Mendoza College of Business University of Notre Dame (Updated on 6/15/2016) Copyright 2016 by David Hartvigsen Updated on 6/15/2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author at David Hartvigsen Mendoza Col ege of Business University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 46556 Email: Hartvigsen.1@nd.edu To order, go to Amazon.com Printed by CreateSpace, Charleston, SC This book was previously published by: Pearson Education, Inc. To NancyTable of ContentsPreface ........................................................................................................ 7 Motivation ......................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................... 11 Sec. 1: What is process simulation? ................................................. 12 Sec. 2: What does SimQuick do? ..................................................... 13 Sec. 3: How does SimQuick incorporate uncertainty? ..................... 14 Sec. 4: System requirements and installation ................................ 16 Chapter 2: Waiting Lines ................................................................... 18 Sec. 1: Solving a problem with SimQuick ........................................ 19 Example 1: A Bank ............................................................... 19 Modeling the process (with a process flow map) ..... 20 Entering the model into SimQuick ........................... 20 Interpreting SimQuick results ................................... 26 Improving the process, Variation 1 ........................... 29 Improving the process, Variation 2 ........................... 31 Sec. 2: Additional waiting line processes ......................................... 33 Example 2: A grocery store checkout ................................... 33 Example 3: A call center ...................................................... 34 Example 4: A fast-food restaurant drive-thru ....................... 35 Sec. 3: Decision Points...................................................................... 35 Example 5: An airport security system ................................. 36 Example 6: A department of motor vehicles ........................ 39 Example 7: A hospital emergency room ............................... 41 Sec. 4: Advanced SimQuick features .............................................. 42 Example 8: Buffer Tracking ................................................. 43 Example 9: Unavailable elements ..................................... 44 Example 10: Changing Distributions ................................... 45 Example 11: Discrete Distributions ...................................... 48 Example 12: Resources and Priorities .................................. 50 Chapter 3: Inventory in Supply Chains ........................................ 54 Sec. 1: A periodic review inventory policy ....................................... 56 Example 13: Grocery store inventory ................................... 56 Sec. 2: Reorder point inventory policies ........................................... 59 Example 14: An electronics superstore ................................ 59 Example 15: A warehouse .................................................... 63 Example 16: Two stores and a warehouse ............................ 64 Sec. 3: More complex inventory policies ......................................... 66 Example 17: An appliance store ........................................... 67 Example 18: A department store .......................................... 72 Chapter 4: Manufacturing ................................................................. 78 Sec. 1: Linear flow processes ........................................................... 79 Example 19: A generic linear flow process .......................... 80 Example 20: A manufacturing cell ....................................... 82 Sec. 2: Assembly/disassembly processes .......................................... 84 Example 21: Box manufacturing .......................................... 84 Sec. 3: Batch and job shop processes ............................................... 87 Example 22: Pharmaceutical manufacturing ........................ 88 Example 23: A single machine job shop .............................. 91 Sec. 4: Quality and reliability in processes ....................................... 94 Example 24: A quality control station .................................. 94 Example 25: A machine with breakdowns ........................... 97 Chapter 5: Project Management ..................................................... 98 Example 26: A software development project ........................... 99 Example 27: A house addition project ....................................... 103 Appendix 1: The Steps in a Simulation Project ......................... 105 Appendix 2: Enhancing SimQuick with Excel Features ......... 106 Appendix 3: Scenarios ......................................................................... 108 Appendix 4: Custom Schedules ........................................................ 113 Appendix 5: SimQuick Reference Manual .................................. 116 PrefaceMotivation The simulation of processes (waiting lines, factories, supply chains, and so on) is one of the conceptually simplest and most often applied techniques in Operations Management and Management Science, yet it has not been widely taught to business students. 116 PrefaceMotivation The simulation of processes (waiting lines, factories, supply chains, and so on) is one of the conceptually simplest and most often applied techniques in Operations Management and Management Science, yet it has not been widely taught to business students.

A key reason for this is that performing process simulation requires the use of software, and the software that is available tends to be complex and expensive. Even the more graphics-based packages, although often beautifully designed, frequently have an enormous number of features that place an unnecessary burden on students (and instructors) in classes that are not devoted to simulation. SimQuick is an Excel-based software package for process simulation that is easy to learn, easy to use, and freely distributed. (Its key features can be learned in an hour or two of class time or independent reading.) It is an ordinary Excel file with some hidden macros and should run immediately on any modern personal or networked computer that runs Excel, either a PC or an Apple computer; it is not an add-in and requires no installation. Hence, users of Excel will already be familiar with much of the interface, and the results are already in the spreadsheet, ready for analysis. SimQuick is aimed primarily at business students and managers who want to quickly learn the basics of process simulation and be able to quickly analyze and improve real-world processes.

SimQuick is flexible in its modeling capability; that is, it is not a hardwired set of examples; it requires true modeling. The user can combine the basic building blocks of SimQuick in a huge variety of ways. Hence, SimQuick can serve well as an introduction to both the notion of building quantitative models as well as the important field of simulation. Since the first version of SimQuick was released in 2001, it has been used in industry as well as in the classroom; its original design and subsequent updates have been informed by comments from users in both domains. This (inexpensive) booklet accompanies SimQuick. It presents the basics of process simulation by having the reader construct, run, and analyze simulations of realistic processes using SimQuick.