USING ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE TO FACILITATE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS SIMULATION

Manufacturing systems is now the largest application domain for simulation modelling. Yet much of the simulation modelling and analysis in manufacturing is being attempted with inappropriate, and in some cases arcane, methods and tools. Manufacturing systems simulation places three demands on future simulation tools. First, as manufacturing systems can be quickly reconfigured, there is a need to make both development and valid analysis more rapid. Second, the intelligent production scheduling present in many manufacturing systems must be modelled by the simulation. Third, many of the components of modern manufacturing systems are designed to be capable of responding to dynamic product demand, particularly small batch orders. Analysis of model of these systems can be difficult. This paper discusses these issues, and the use of Artificial Intelligence to facilitate the application of simulation to manufacturing systems design and analysis. Projects that approach these issues are then presented, including an Intelligent Front End for manufacturing systems design that generates simulation models in SIMAN, methods for automatic simulation optimization, and a PROLOG based simulation tool that allows the addition of heuristic knowledge to a simulation model. © 1990.