Automated Model Development and Parametrization of Material Flow Simulations

Abstract

Material flow simulations are a powerful tool for planning and improving complex production systems. In practice, however, the potential of simulations cannot be exploited. Long development times and high efforts complicate a successful realization of simulation projects. In this paper we present a new approach to automate time-consuming steps in simulation projects. Based on general tracking and tracing data, our approach reduces the efforts in the area of data acquisition and automates the steps of model development, model parameterization and model implementation. The approach automatically identifies a material flow model, classifies and parametrizes the identified material flow elements and extracts basic control policies. A first prototypical implementation confirms the validity of the approach. The results show that the simulation models can be successfully created automatically with low manual effort.