Large Scale Supply Chain Simulation

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S_Guru asked Dec 14, '20 S_Guru commented Dec 17, '20

Large Scale Supply Chain Simulation

Hi, I am new to FlexSim and I have used Arena for a class in graduate school. I am about to build a large scale supply chain network simulation.

From my reading so far, it seems Flexsim is specialized in 3D simulation. It it possible to run simulation with no 3D (or any) visualization for fast processing?

Also, is it possible to create flow items by using data from database? I want to create boxes moving from distribution center to stores. Based on historical data, i want to create the packages.

Software Version:

FlexSim 20.2.3

flexsim 20.2.3 animation supply chain

Answer 1 · 2020-12-14T21:21:42Z

Ben Wilson answered Dec 14, '20 S_Guru commented Dec 17, '20

@Je Sang S,

Our process flow tools and methodology in particular is a really powerful way for creating model behavior while avoiding anything to do with the 3D aspects of model building.

At the same time, it integrates really well with the 3D objects when desired.

Check out the process flow tutorial to give it a try. That said, rather than skipping straight to that later tutorial, you may want to start with the first tutorial to get your FlexSim bearings, then work your way into process flow.

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Jason Lightfoot ♦ commented · Dec 14, 2020 at 09:01 PM

Should you need 3D layout and distances too - you can also close the 3D view and the experiments are performed as background/headless processes eliminating any drawing.

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Ben Wilson ♦♦ commented · Dec 14, 2020 at 10:36 PM

@Je Sang S,

To answer your question regarding database connectivity, FlexSim allows you to import and export data from/to various databases:

Database Connectors (flexsim.com)

Because accessing data outside of your simulation can be expensive (processing time-wise), you should probably have logic that performs your complete data import into FlexSim-native structures, like Global Tables, before running the simulation. Then your simulation can be configured to create items based on those tables. This will give you better performance than constantly querying your database during the model run.

As you get deeper into testing and trying these concepts, feel free to create new questions on this community to address those specific questions that arise.

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S_Guru commented · Dec 17, 2020 at 12:39 AM

@Ben Wilson Thanks a lot for your answer. I found YouTube video tutorial and it is very helpful. I will check the tutorial you mentioned as well.

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