Plant Simulation is a

computer application A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These pr ...

developed by

Siemens Digital Industries Software Siemens Digital Industries Software (formerly UGS and then Siemens PLM Software) is an American computer software company specializing in 3D & 2D Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software. The company is a business unit of Siemens, operates u ...

for

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

ing, simulating,

analyzing Analysis (plural, : analyses) is the process of breaking a complexity, complex topic or Substance theory, substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics a ...

, visualizing and

optimizing Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfi ...

production systems and processes, the flow of materials and logistic operations. Using Tecnomatix Plant Simulation, users can optimize material flow, resource utilization and logistics for all levels of plant planning from global production facilities, through local plants, to specific lines. Within the ''Plant Design and Optimization Solution'' the software portfolio, to which Plant Simulation belongs, is — together with the products of the Digital Factory and of Digital Manufacturing — part of the

Product Lifecycle Management In industry, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PL ...

Software (PLM). The application allows comparing complex

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

alternatives, including the immanent process logic, by means of computer simulations. Plant Simulation is used by individual production planners as well as by multi-national enterprises, primarily to strategically plan layout, control logic and dimensions of large, complex production investments. It is one of the major products that dominate that market space.

Product description

Plant Simulation is a

Material flow Material flow is the description of the transportation of raw materials, pre-fabricates, parts, components, integrated objects and final products as a flow of entities. The term applies mainly to advanced modeling of supply chain management. As in ...

simulation

Software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

( Discrete Event Simulation; DES Software). Using simulation, complex and dynamic enterprise workflows are evaluated to arrive at mathematically safeguarded entrepreneurial decisions. The

Computer model Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be deter ...

allows the user to execute experiments and to run through 'what if scenarios' without either having to experiment with the real production environment or, when applied within the planning phase, long before the real system exists. In general, the

Material flow analysis Material flow analysis (MFA), also referred to as substance flow analysis (SFA), is an analytical method to quantify flows and stocks of materials or substances in a well-defined system. MFA is an important tool to study the bio-physical aspects o ...

is used when discrete production processes are running. These processes are characterized by non-steady material flows, which means that the part is either there or not there, the shift takes place or does not take place, the machine works without errors or reports a failure. These processes resist simple mathematical descriptions and derivations due to numerous dependencies. Before powerful computers were available, most problems of material flow simulation have been solved by means of

queuing theory Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. A queueing model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting time can be predicted. Queueing theory is generally considered a branch of operations research because the ...

and

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...

methods. In most cases, the solutions resulting from these calculations were hard to understand and were marked by a large number of boundary conditions and restrictions which were hard to abide by in

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

Languages

Plant Simulation is available in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, Hungarian,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. The user can create individual

Dialog box The dialog box (also called dialogue box (non-U.S. English), message box or simply dialog) is a graphical control element in the form of a small window that communicates information to the user and prompts them for a response. Dialog boxes ar ...

es using double-byte characters and offering individual parameterizations. The user can switch between the available languages.

Special features

Object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of ...

with **

Inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officia ...

: Users create libraries with their own objects, which can be re-used. As opposed to a copy, any change to an object class within the library is propagated to any of the derived objects (children). ** Polymorphism: Classes can be derived and derived methods can be redefined. This enables users to build complex models faster, easier and with a clearer structure. ** Hierarchy: Complex structures can be created very clearly on several (logic) layers. This facilitates a

Top-down and bottom-up design Top-down and bottom-up are both strategies of information processing and knowledge ordering, used in a variety of fields including software, humanistic and scientific theories (see systemics), and management and organization. In practice, they ...

approach. *Openness for importing data from other systems, such as

Access Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO se ...

or Oracle data bases,

Excel ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House area of Newham, East London. It is situated on a site on the northern quay of the ...

worksheets or from

SAP Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separ ...

. * Integration: Plant Simulation is part of the Digital factory and supports **importing data from PLM systems or be used during **Virtual Commissioning **taking over layout data from

AutoCAD AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...

, Microstation, FactoryCAD, etc. directly into the simulation. *Provides comprehensible analysis tools for detecting bottlenecks (Bottleneck Analyzer), for tracking the flow of materials (

Sankey diagram Sankey diagrams are a type of flow diagram in which the width of the arrows is proportional to the flow rate. Sankey diagrams can also visualize the energy accounts, material flow accounts on a regional or national level, and cost breakdowns. ...

s) or for detecting over-dimensioned resources (Chart Wizard). * Provides integrated optimization tools: **The Experiment Manager automatically creates scenarios or evaluates dependencies between two input parameters. ** Genetic algorithms search large solution spaces. ** Neural networks show the connection between input and output parameters and can be used for forecasting. *Data analysis: Detection of dependencies,

Regression analysis In statistical modeling, regression analysis is a set of statistical processes for estimating the relationships between a dependent variable (often called the 'outcome' or 'response' variable, or a 'label' in machine learning parlance) and one ...

, best fitting function etc.

Scope of application

Calculation of enterprise characteristics

Goal: *Detect and show problems which might otherwise cause costs and time-intensive correction measures during the ramp-up phase. *Offer mathematically calculated key performance indicators (KPI) instead of expert's "gut feelings." *Reduce investment costs for production lines without endangering the required output quantities. *Optimize the performance of existing production lines. *Incorporate machine failures and availabilities ( MTTR,

MTBF Mean time between failures (MTBF) is the predicted elapsed time between inherent failures of a mechanical or electronic system during normal system operation. MTBF can be calculated as the arithmetic mean (average) time between failures of a syst ...

) when calculating throughput numbers and utilization.

Visualization

Plant Simulation can display production sequences in 2D and in 3D. The 3D display is especially helpful as a sales tool or for in-house communication of planned measures. In addition it allows to present the entire system concept within a virtual, interactive, immersive environment to non-simulation experts. The 3D engine is based on the industry standard JT format.

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

applications such as NX,

Solid Edge Solid Edge is a 3D CAD, parametric feature and synchronous technology solid modeling software. It runs on Microsoft Windows and provides solid modeling, assembly modelling and 2D orthographic view functionality for mechanical designers. Throu ...

can export models in this format. The 3D data files can be imported in the JT format '.jt' by using

Drag-and-drop In computer graphical user interfaces, drag and drop is a pointing device gesture in which the user selects a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object. In general, it can be used to ...

Used in

Plant Simulation is used in most industries. Especially in the *Automotive industr
Automotive Industry Workgroup Material Flow Simulation
*Automotive suppliers *Aerospace *Plant manufacturing *Mechanical engineering *Process industry *Electronics industry *Consumer packaged goods industry *Airports *Logistics companies (transport logistics, storage logistics and production logistics) *High bay warehouse suppliers, suppliers of automated guided vehicle systems and electric overhead monorail systems *Consulting houses and service providers *Shipyard
Simulation Cooperation in the Maritime Industries
SimCoMar is an interest group of shipyards and suppliers, universities and institutions engaged in the simulation of shipbuilding *Harbors, especially container terminals Lately material flow simulation gains growing importance through the increasing use for considering the sustainability of industrial production processes. Here the characteristics of sustainable manufacturing are simulated and analyzed beforehand and then integrated into the investment decision process.
Plant Simulation is also used for research and development purposes at a great number of universities and universities of applied science.

Application history

References

External links

Video: Plant Simulation Introduction Video

Tecnomatix Plant Simulation on the Siemens Digital Industries Software official web page

Siemens Digital Industries Software official Webpage

Open Tecnomatix Plant Simulation community and discussion forum

Case Study
(Wayback Machine)
Series of demo videos
{{Siemens PLM Software Product lifecycle management Project management software Siemens software products Simulation software Business software for Windows