Supply Chain Simulation library

[Mustafa Guller]

Hi All,

I used a few commercial simulation software last 10 years but I was searching an open source simulation software, especially to use for supply chain and I found JaamSim.

I see supply chain simulation modelling different from other logistic problems. Based on my experience, I would say that you still have to write many codes in order to build a complex supply chain model even if you use a commercial software.

And it is not so practical to use drag-and-drop to build a large scale supply chain with many locations, many products and BOMs.

Before spending so much efforts, I would like to ask your experience and advice.

- is it possible to create a special object library for supply chain simulation such as "Customer", "Supplier", "Manufacturer", "Warehouse" etc. I just saw Jaamsim Pro but I am not sure if it is open source

- Is it possible to connect Jaamsim with a Map?

- Because we need a huge number of input parameters for supply chain, we would need to read file from excel or some other data source and then build model automatically. Do you also have experience about that?

I know there are already some answers for these questions in the forum. But I think it would be more helpful if we collect all experience or some example models (demo models) for complex supply chain here.

Not in a short-term, but I hope we can create a special supply chain simulation library using Jaamsim in long-term

Thank you all in advance for your supports

Mustafa

[Harry King]

Mustafa,

I'm glad that you have discovered JaamSim.

- is it possible to create a special object library for supply chain simulation such as "Customer", "Supplier", "Manufacturer", "Warehouse" etc. I just saw Jaamsim Pro but I am not sure if it is open source

HK - You can create new objects as a combination of the built-in objects. At present, these 'SubModels' require programming in Java, but it is relatively easy to do so. The ServerAndQueue object provides an example of how to do this. JaamSim Pro is a commercial extension of JaamSim that has additional capabilities including some more powerful features for SubModels. It is not open source and is still in beta testing at present.

- Is it possible to connect Jaamsim with a Map?

HK - A map can be imported as an image that can be used as a background for a model. JaamSim Pro can use maps from OpenStreetMap and other map servers.

  

- Because we need a huge number of input parameters for supply chain, we would need to read file from excel or some other data source and then build model automatically. Do you also have experience about that?

HK - The JaamSim input file was designed to be human readable. It's syntax is described in the user manual. Large models are usually created by editing the input file manually and using git to track the changes. It is also possible to generate the input file from another program written in Python for example.

 

Harry