Introduction to SIMAN

The concepts and methods for simulating manufacturing systems using the SIMAN simulation language are discussed. SIMAN is a general-purpose simulation language which incorporates special-purpose features to greatly simplify and enhance the modeling of material handling components in a manufacturing system. The modeling framework of SIMAN allows component models based on three distinct modeling orientations to be combined in a single system model. For discrete change systems, either a process or event orientation can be used to describe the model. Continuous change systems are modeled with algebraic, difference, or differential equations. A combination of these orientations can be used to model combined discrete-continuous models. Some of the more important features in the SIMAN IV language are summarized