Simulation of a centralized mail distribution center

It is noted that, while the utility of simulation in the service industry has always been a topic of debate, there has been a lack of concrete examples demonstrating the value of simulation in a traditional office environment. The authors support the view that simulation is an extremely useful decision-making tool for the operations manager in the service industry through describing an application at American Express Southern Regional Operations Center. The authors discuss the evaluation of different alternatives to implement a centralized mail distribution center that receives, processes, and forwards correspondence from American Express cardholders to the different industry-specialized regional operations centers