Operational Improvements through Simulation

“Simulation is the next best thing to observing a real system in operation since it allows to study the situation even though we are unable to experiment directly with the real system” [1]

There are several reasons why a system would not allow a direct exploration of its behaviour under certain circumstances; for instance, the system may not exist yet or changing the system settings might prove too time consuming or expensive with respect to the foreseen gains. The complexity of a system is generally a constraint when mathematical methods, such as algebra, calculus or probability theory, are used to model it. On the contrary, there is almost no limitation to the complexity and types of system that can be simulated [2]. This is proven by the breadth of areas where simulation has been successfully applied; these areas range from manufacturing to ecology and environmental issues, from business to biosciences and healthcare.