Automatic generation of a class of simulation models from databases

The authors show the potential of using a higher-level language, such as BASIC, to automatically generate syntactically correct simulation models from functional databases. The resulting models may then be executed directly by the general-purpose simulation language of choice. The procedure is primarily developed for assembly line operations. The proposed approach is based on the observation that although the simulation logic of network-based models is generally simple, the structure of such models is highly input-data dependent. As an example a QuickBASIC program to generate SIMNET cost estimation is listed, and a SIMNET II simulation model for the example application is listed