Simul8
in conversation

Could you share about your organization’s use of simulation?

Sure! I work in the quality and process improvement team at a large health center in Canada.

Our organization does have a history of using simulation software, mainly to look at patient flow to determine the impact of a decision, but there hasn’t been any active simulation projects in years.

Our interest in simulation within our core quality team started when there was a change towards increased access to data.

How are you using simulation within your organization?

I am currently using it for exploratory analysis, building simulations to see "what if?", "what could happen?" and it has been incredibly valuable.

For example, let’s take a clinic in our hospital. What would happen if we did this or changed that? Being able to visually communicate, "well, if we made this decision, this would be the outcome" is an invaluable resource and will give more confidence when we do decide on next steps.

That’s the biggest benefit – being able to make an informed decision. This tool provides us with more information than we would have without it.

How did you first hear about Simul8?

Funny story! I actually found some Simul8 software packaging in our office that dated back to 2007, which led me to reach out to the team.

The folks at Simul8 came back to me and I had the opportunity to download a trial of the newest version. I started playing around with it and that was fantastic.

Then, when I got the full license, I went to the training academy to get the basics of it. But even without that, I could have figured it out because the technology is extremely fast to pick up.

Have you used other software before?

For context, during my masters I did have the opportunity to play around with another simulation software and it was expensive, buggy, and not easy to use.

So, when I began using Simul8, I was impressed with how intuitive and straightforward the software is – it is literally drag and drop. Plus, the training academy provided me with a lot of extra insights that enhanced my simulation building!

Comparatively, what I was doing before with spreadsheets, and from my brief experience with other software, it was night and day. A project that I had previously spent three months working on using excel took me less than 10 minutes to build, and from that moment I was sold.

What lessons have you learnt from the projects you’ve been working on?

Building a simulation can get complex, and what I’ve had to learn is that while everyone has the assumption that discrete event simulation is intended to replicate the real world, that is not its intended purpose.

Yes, it can achieve that, but for most projects the key part is just being able to build a simulation close enough to make an educated and informed decision.

Does it need to be perfect? No. Do you want to aim for that? Sure.

How has your experience with the team been?

The software is intuitive, but the after-sales support is even better. I am the only person on our team who is using Simul8, and I don’t have anyone to go to if I have questions. So, the after-sales support has been the strongest part of using it- for me, personally. It’s not just the software, it’s everything else that comes with it.

Whether it’s Tom, Matt or Andrew, they have always been kind enough to share their time with me. Anyone working with simulation software will know that it can explode quickly.

If you don't know what you’re doing, you might find yourself not being able to manage expectations. Learning what’s possible through the Simul8 team is incredibly valuable.

How did Simul8's drop-in sessions help?

The drop-in sessions have also been incredibly useful.

I’ve attended ones that aren’t necessarily healthcare focused, but there is always something that they demonstrate that I learn from.

So even if there isn’t one that is directly related to the industry you work in, definitely still go, you will learn something useful.

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

The take home messages are that it’s a great tool and I’ve been extremely happy with it.

It gives us more knowledge so that we’re more confident with our decision making, which is invaluable in a healthcare environment where every resource counts.

Sometimes we’ve had a project where we don’t receive the full outcomes, so the most important question is do we have more information to make an informed decision? That goes a long way, as simple as it sounds.

Can you provide an overview of your simulation project?

Interface is a carpet manufacturing company and, as of November last year, we have been struggling to identify the bottlenecks in our organization.

For background, carpet production has five major steps. The area we were interested in using simulation for is called tufting. The step before tufting is called loading.

At Interface, we have four loading areas and then we have 28 tufting machines. The loading areas can serve all those machines.

Then, when we tuft the carpet, we send the yarn to the unloading area. We remove the yarn, and this cycle continues. We load, we tuft, we unload.

What outcomes were you trying to achieve?

Remove bottlenecks

The big question was, how many loading and unloading areas do we really need to keep all of these machines running as efficiently as possible? This part of the process is the most expensive and we were interested in analyzing what the bottlenecks were.

Workforce planning

How many people do we need and where do we need them? Currently, in the US we have a huge problem with staffing and even when a department is at full capacity, we have a high absenteeism rates every day.

This is why we were interested in finding out how to use our resources as efficiently as possible. How many areas do we need? What areas require human intervention? Where do we need them the most?

Why did you use simulation?

Based on my experience, our stakeholders can understand simulation far more easily. Simulation allows us to communicate visually with them without having to go into the math. I would say that’s a big plus.

Why Simul8?

Again, based on my experience, our stakeholders don’t really care about how beautiful the 3D models are because they know their process very well. They don’t need you to show them how it works, they want me to give them recommendations and that’s what Simul8 does.

There are other software on the market with more varied 3D capabilities but in terms of process logic, they are the same as Simul8.

So, in essence, Simul8 gives you the answer that you want without the complications that you don’t need, because your stakeholder doesn’t really care about them.

How do you approach your simulation projects?

I always start with a process map, so where does it start and where does it end. I usually create two maps, one for the material floor and one for the information floor. But sometimes they don’t correlate with each other. Most of the time the information is transactions inside of the system, and the material is something moving on the shop floor.

I then create the logic and confirm it with our process owners, team leads and supervisors because they are the people who see this every day and understand it better than me. Then, when I’m confident in my logic, I start modelling.

This will look at where it starts, what's the queue, what’s the queue size, how many worker stations are there? Then when I have that, I show the logic to the same team to make sure it makes sense to them. I will then go and collect the data.

For example, in our process we needed to know loading times, tufting times, and unloading times. I collected some data, fitted the distribution and then needed to verify the base model. I usually do this by looking at two factors:

• Number of outputs per day
• Total time in the system

Once I have similar numbers, I assume that my base model is verified and valid. My next step is to then propose new ideas for the simulation.

How did you manage the project with your stakeholders?

I have two main stakeholders; one is the Director of Engineering and the other is the VP of Supply Chain. They knew that the bottleneck was within the tufting process, but they didn’t know specifically what the problem was.

They had tried different avenues in the past but without any luck. They even hired consultants, but they didn’t really make a difference with the ideas that they proposed.

When I started, I proposed simulation and laid out what it does and how we can use it. The beauty of the simulation is, (and this is how I got buy in), letting them know that we don’t need to implement the change on the shop floor to map out the consequences.

We can see the future and predict what is going to happen if we have accurate data. We have unlimited options before making any changes on the shop floor.

What have you learnt and with hindsight would you have done anything differently?

I spent a lot of time collecting data and if I could go back, I would have spent more time delivering the result. Instead of making sure every part is working exactly as I had envisioned. Sometimes, as engineers, we like to ‘over engineer’ everything but the speed of the delivery is more important.

If I could go back, I would tell myself that if the model is 70%-80% accurate, that’s good enough. You can communicate the results and make an impact. You have to ask yourself do I already have enough data to make an informed decision?

What is next for simulation within your organization?

Yes, we are definitely looking to integrate more simulation within our organization as our vision revolves around industry 4.0. The next step is going to be building a team, not just for simulation experts but also for machine learning engineers, operational research scientists and data engineers so that we can streamline everything.

We want to prepare our shop floor for 100% automation, optimization scheduling and digital twins so that we can collect data sources together and not just rely on human judgement. Simulation is the starting point but it’s not the ending point.

Is there anything specific that you like about Simul8 and the way it works?

What I like about Simul8 is that it is very intuitive and easy to use. I have a huge background in simulation but if someone doesn’t, Simul8 is not complicated, and they can make simple models that work in a couple of weeks.

The emphasis on logic and the result, that’s what differentiates Simul8 from other software. In some other simulation software, you really need to code to make the logic that you want but in Simul8 you don't have to do that.

Your experience with the Simul8 team, has anything stood out?

I really liked that after a week of getting the software, you guys contacted me and asked whether I liked it. That is a nice gesture. When we start using a new technology, we want to make sure that the vendor cares about the software and the user experience. The fact you guys contacted me was nice.

You also have an online academy to teach the basics, that’s really great! If somebody is just starting out with simulation, you give all the information you need, they don’t need to google or watch separate tutorials.