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When planning new transfer hubs, developers need to verify the stations would provide expected passenger capacity, while city authorities have to learn how building a station would affect traffic in the area and public transfer load. Simulation modeling is a perfect instrument for solving such challenges. We covered, in a past blog, one of the models built for the Moscow Ring Railway project, passenger flow simulation at Cherkizovo transfer hub, where a station layout was tested at peak passenger loads. The project we are going to discuss today is another model of Moscow public transport system. We will talk about automobile traffic flow research at the transport hub of Volokolamskaya, done by ITS Consulting.

Being #26 in last years’ Fortune 500 list, Cardinal Health is a billion dollar pharmaceutical distribution and logistics company. Its clients are hospitals, pharmacies, physicians, and individual consumers. They face a multitude of typical distribution warehouse challenges that are further complicated by the nature of pharmaceutical products, which are smaller in size, consumable, expensive, and could be life critical. Company’s warehouses have narrow passages, and workers operate big multilevel trolleys. That increases the probability of employees’ mistakes and makes these mistakes costly.

Centrotherm Photovoltaics AG is a global supplier of technology and equipment for the photovoltaics, semiconductor, and microelectronics industries.

The company needed to identify the best configuration of the automated production line and factory, to minimize costs and maximize throughput and reliability. Centrotherm needed to avoid possible bottlenecks in the material flow and optimize in-factory logistics.

At the AnyLogic Conference 2014, Kyle Johnson, Global Business Services in Advanced Analytics and Optimization at IBM partnered with Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, presented a “Multi-Agent-Based Simulation of a Complex Ecosystem of Mental Health Care.” To date, the research paper was published in the Journal of Medical Systems and received the attention of the United States House of Representatives [1]. The project revolves around the housing cycle of the United State’s Severely and Persistently Mentally Ill (SPMI). An SPMI patient defines someone with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, or Major Depressive Disorder, and this group constitutes about 1.7% of the US population. To better understand the condition and possible improvements, IBM Global Research and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals used an agent-based approach to model the SPMI living situations over the second half of the 20th century.

For any industry, adopting new technology can be costly both in time, and money. As most of you know, adopting simulation modeling is the way around making costly unnecessary changes and depleting human resources. New to the simulation and modeling concept as a decision-making and problem-solving tool, is the oil & gas industry. Alvaro Gil from Steam Systems Ltd. guides us through the implementation of simulation modeling, the data behind the models, bumps in the road, and ultimately the return on investment. Utilizing simulation and modeling to address oil & gas industry challenges, Stream Systems helps clients realize billions of dollars in cost-savings.

Calling all Simulation Professionals - WSC 15 is now accepting Case Study Track submissions! This is an opportunity for professionals across all industries to share their innovative solutions using AnyLogic simulation and modeling software. Are you a thought-leader involved in the simulation profession or who use simulation to solve complex business problems in your organization? Submit your case, represent the AnyLogic community, and join over 800 international attendees at the WinterSim Conference in Huntington Beach, California on Dec 6-9th, 2015.

Equipment part breakdown in the Intel factories, as in many factories is inevitable. These failures typically cause capacity constraints and ultimatley cost the corporation time and money. Equipment parts can be repaired locally or may require shipping to the vendor for repair. Since the repair loop takes significant time, it is necessary to have extra spare parts on-hand to keep the equipment running while broken parts are repaired. It is pertinent to avoid overbuying of the spare parts, as they are very expensive. Intel needed a model of the repair loop to increase the visibility of problems such as broken parts accumulating at the vendor repair center and sites over purchasing spare parts. At the AnyLogic Conference 2014, Victor Chang, Software Engineer at Intel presents an AnyLogic simulation that was developed to model the complexities and variability

“Cesarean delivery” is a method of childbirth in which a surgeon cuts through the pregnant woman’s abdomen and uterus to deliver the baby. The more natural method of childbirth is called “vaginal delivery”, in which the baby leaves the mother’s uterus through her vaginal canal. Ideally, cesarean delivery would only be used when vaginal delivery would endanger the life or health of the child or mother, because cesarean delivery involves major abdominal surgery that is accompanied by much greater risks for both mother and child than vaginal delivery. Cesarean delivery also costs about 50 percent more. Over the last 40 years, the U.S. rate of cesarean delivery has increased dramatically.

There are many cases of simulation modeling in healthcare. Application areas can vary, from process optimization in hospitals to macrolevel agent-based epidemiology models. Due to its multimethod nature, AnyLogic allows models to be built at various abstraction levels. A good illustration of how researchers and consultants can apply the same tool to different problems is the three models built by the Stockholm County Health Administration in Sweden. The models included macro, meso, and micro abstraction level applications in healthcare simulation. The microlevel model simulated the maternity ward in a hospital that was currently under construction. The purpose of the model was to support discussions related to which resources, capacity, and work methods were required in the new ward. One relevant discussion was whether to keep mother and child in the same room during their entire stay or to have dedicated rooms for antenatal care, delivery, and postnatal care.

While the extensive rail library was a key reason that CSX chose AnyLogic as its general purpose simulation tool for the Network Modeling, Operations Research, and Process Excellence groups, the other libraries and methods have added significant value as well. In fact, the first major project where AnyLogic was used did not utilize the rail library. After reviewing the problem in more detail, a discrete-event simulation model was built to help managers studying train throughput. The model simulated the demand of empty trains from five coal mines, as well as the fulfillment of the demand. A supply-chain-like network model was created, which implemented logic to depict the demand, supply and staging of empty trains. The trains were modeled as moving entities across the network. By varying values of relevant parameters, users can infer the impacts of different factors to the train throughput (i.e. siding staging capacity and loading speeds at the coal mines). The model provides a way for decision makers to gain insight into the system to help identify the maximum possible throughput. The objective was to identify the best operational/capital strategy to handle the increased business.