Overview of SAS Simulation Studio

This section discusses a more complicated model to demonstrate some of the additional features and capabilities of Simulation Studio, including compound blocks, branching based on probability, and using the various plotting blocks to monitor the status of the model as it is running.

Suppose parts arrive at a repair shop at a rate of four per hour. Upon arrival, a part is taken to the service desk where it is inspected. The time it takes a person to inspect the part is uniformly distributed between 5 and 15 minutes. The service desk can repair of the parts. The rest require more complicated repairs and must be sent to the repair station. At the repair station, the part is worked on by a repairman. The time it takes a repairman to diagnose and fix the problem is uniformly distributed with a minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum of 45 minutes. With a probability of 0.09, a repairman cannot fix the part, and it is sent to the scrap area. Otherwise, the repaired part is sent on to a quality control manager who inspects the part to determine whether it has been repaired properly. The quality control manager sends of the repaired parts back to the repair center for further repairs. The rest of the parts that pass inspection are sent on to the part pickup area. The time it takes a quality control manager to inspect a part is uniformly distributed between 6 and 18 minutes. Two people work at the service desk, and two people work at the repair desk. Assume the travel time for parts between all stations is 1 minute. The shop is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The simulation is run for one work week (45 hours).