Layered DES (Discrete Event Simulation) framework for ship production simulation

Abstract

Discrete event simulation (DES) is regarded as one of the most powerful tools in the field of operations research since it can simulate very realistically what is happening at the factory floor thus shipbuilding industry has tried to utilize this tool to improve their productivity. However unlike other industries, the detailed product information is seldom available at the beginning of production processes, which prevents the straightforward application of commercial off-the-shelf DES softwares to their planning and scheduling of the operations. In order to enhance the applicability of DES tools to ship production processes, we analyzed the characteristics of shipbuilding processes and propose Layered DES framework. It is an extended concept of DES, which supports a stratified simulation system. In present study, we arranged Layered DES framework formalism and compare with the structure of DEVS software to validate the technical feasibility. Also we present a simple exercise of UML to illustrate the utilization of proposed framework.