One group of students decided to dance out their SIMUL8 simulation to help them understand better, and we think it’s pretty good! You must have your sound up to watch this, the music makes it even better.

Do you think you can do a better simulation dance?

If so, send us your video and it could feature in the next education newsletter.

My simulation professor used to say that GPS gives you the exact answer whereas a compass points you in the general direction of where you’re trying to get to.

It’s meant to explain that simulation doesn’t give you a single number that’s the right answer it gives you guidance of the area to look at for the solution.

It’s not that simulations can’t be accurate enough to give the exact answer.

The New Zealand Inland Revenue use their simulation as an operational planning tool and report that there is only a 1% difference between what the simulation tells them and what they see when they implement it the real world.

It just means that as powerful simulation is, it still needs a human to interpret what the results mean and make the final decision as to what is the best outcome.

Simulation is about doing an analysis to make an evidence based decision, does this mean that the numerical results are the only important part?

Absolutely not.

In days gone by simulations would take hours to run, so you ran your simulation in a little dark room, then presented your report filled with numbers and charts.

Now simulation is fast, they run in just seconds. (I was once challenged to make a simulation run 25 years in 25 seconds and I did it, well OK SIMUL8 did it, but that’s a whole other blog, why simulations need to be fast!)

Now you build and run your simulations in front of process owners and when you present your findings it’s with a simulation running, not a static report.

This means you need to get buy in from the minute your simulation opens. It’s not necessarily about it having the fanciest graphics ever seen, it’s

Continue reading Are good looking simulations important?