Improving effectiveness of simulation studies using building blocks

Abstract

Even though discrete event simulation is seen as a powerful problem solving tool, day-today use is still neglected. We noticed that this is a result of (perceived) low effectiveness of simulation studies. As a solution to improve the effectiveness of simulation studies, we identified a possible improvement for simulation studies, simulation building blocks. In our first experiments using simulation building blocks to support simulation studies, we noticed improved effectiveness, although not every set of building blocks contributed to an improvement of the effectiveness. We blame the architecture used for the definition of the building blocks, for this lack of contribution. Based on these experiences, we identified requirements for a new and more generic architecture. We developed a new architecture consisting of model building blocks and building block elements of which we expect that building blocks that are constructed according to this architecture will lead to an improvement in the effectiveness of simulation studies. In this paper we sketch how we think this new architecture should be evaluated, using different case-studies, laboratory experiments and expert validations.