Generic data structure and validation methodology for simulation of manufacturing systems

In recent years, the analysis and evaluation of manufacturing systemsâ behaviour and their performance became essential. Discrete event simulation (DES) as a digital enterprise technology is an effective tool both in production related decision support processes and in structure or performance analysis of manufacturing systems. Building a DES model of a manufacturing system is a difficult task and requires special competence. Reducing the efforts spent on draft simulation is the aim of an ongoing research which is presented in the paper. The developed framework simplifies and accelerates the process of model building. A production oriented implementation of the ANSI/ISA-95 standard was used by the proposed modelling methodology to define a generic data structure supporting the creation of models without specific knowledge related to the simulation software applied. The data structure enables the development and application of proprietary simulation engines tailored for specific problems.