Recently, we have applied Discrete Event Simulation (DES) in a project for the rapid DfMA construction of storage and distribution facilities, building flexible, digital models that can represent both the on-site assembly sequences and the supply chain operations for the construction of multiple sites in Europe.
This would thin out a lot of the existing legwork and administrative work, speeding everything up.. Establishing rules to support digitisation.At Bryden Wood, our Creative Technologies team has found that in the process of developing configurators, simply putting the rigour behind what is or isn’t a rule, or what is or isn’t acceptable, is very helpful.
Miranda Sharp says that she’s experienced exactly the same types of issues in the infrastructure space.She recalls a conversation with two linear infrastructure providers who wanted to establish a simple use case of information to be shared in order to better guard against, and mitigate, the effects of flood.However, with one provider interested in road safety and surface water, and the other in railways and embankment flooding, they quickly discovered that their differing concerns added significant complication to the task.
A complex process of questioning ensued around the use and translation of nomenclature, which Sharp says was a useful process in itself.However, the fact remained that every time they opened a new conversation, a new dimension and further complexity was revealed.. Sharp says this is why the ideas behind the National Digital Twin are necessary, because although we have lots of very specialised and efficient systems for sharing information, in order to achieve the next level of efficiency and public benefit, we need to start sharing information between systems.
While we’re very optimised to keep water off the roads, we don’t really understand other aspects, such as whether a drainage ditch should be built to go left or right at a particular junction.
The information exists, we just need to find different ways of interpreting between it.. Sharp says that digitising planning is very much a use case of the National Digital Twin programme because people can see the value in it and therefore have the appetite to address it.This is where the real strengths of Discrete Event Simulation (DES), or time-based process simulation, can be brought in.
Using tools such as Lanner Witness or AnyLogic, a digital model can be created from the macro to the micro scale, including global supply chain and logistics, down to individual site operations.Digital models built within these tools are made with the logic and rules necessary to represent the real-world process and constrain the system.
These are typically based around the flow of operations, their dependencies and the resources required to complete them.However, one does not need to rigidly prescribe any of these aspects in detail, or hard-code them, to derive the results, but rather use the simulation engine to logically sequence operations and how resources are used.. A simple example of this could be a set of assembly operations occurring simultaneously, which use both shared components – bolts, for example – and resources, such as an operator or a wrench.
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