Simulation tools: Excel or a digital twin?
45 minutes. That’s how quickly one of the companies recovered the costs of acquiring the simulation model. “Sometimes the simulated processes are simple and Excel is really enough for them. In more complicated, complex cases, it pays to work with dynamic simulation,” explains Petr Jalůvka, Company Representative of DYNAMIC FUTURE.
One example, as an introduction
That example is a bit older, but it will serve perfectly to explain how it was possible to save a lot of money in less than an hour. The mentioned company was building a new line with a conveyor, which was linked to other production phases. The products had to be placed on special platforms on the line, and the purchase price of one was around 5,000 euros. The equipment supplier has suggested how many conveyors the company needs to order to keep the production flow smooth.
“A simple simulation carried out in WITNESS by a company employee verified that only half the number of platforms will be needed, compared to the plan. It took 45 minutes, and the company really saved a lot of money,” recalls Petr Jalůvka.
Excel can’t do everything
Although there have been speculations about the end of classic Excel for at least 10 years, it is certainly difficult for similar tools to surpass it. When it comes to predictions, however, dynamic simulation, i.e. the use of digital twins, clearly has the upper hand.
“Excel still remains much more popular than simulation. Actually, it is possible to carry out simulations in it, to some extent. However, in principle, it requires many simplifications, and what is most fundamental – it can’t work with time,” says the Company Representative.
According to him, the complexity of processes in companies is becoming more and more complex. The tool from the Microsoft workshop must be “fed” with input data in a complex way, while remembering all possible connections, combinations, and internal links that are key to the result. Simulation users have an easier job in this direction, with much more accurate results.
“It’s like cars. Previously, the driver had to control a lot of things while driving, there was no automatic choke, shifting, opening, safety features. Today, all you have to do is press the right button, turn the steering wheel, and increase or decrease the speed,” explains Petr Jalůvka.
Don’t take a cannon to shoot sparrows
When DYNAMIC FUTURE comes to companies, they always come across the use of Excel for production planning, for example. According to P. Jalůvka, its fundamental advantage is that it is a fast tool, easy to understand for everyone. And where, for example, advanced planning works, or in companies that also use other software products, Excel is a good choice.
“Excel, for example, allows you to quickly pull out the part of the processes that you need to solve or analyze data. When people use it in their daily routine, and for global, long-term solutions, they have other tools, and it has its merits. There is no need to always take a cannon for shooting sparrows,” the Company Representative points out.
As we have already mentioned, the limitation is the impossibility of working with the time factor in Excel. Anyone who needs, for example, to simulate the operation of two devices that are to operate one after the other, each of which has its own cycle time, and needs a buffer between them, which is continuously filled, comes across this. The Excel user then has to make time slices that show how the situation looks at different moments. A digital twin user does not need to make such considerations. It is enough to enter the times for the first and second devices into the programme, plus simulate the connection between them and the buffer.
Good input for the simulation model
However, knowing how to work in Excel is a big plus for using digital twins. Excel can be an interface in which users can find the inputs to the simulation model, the outputs, as well as the parameterization of the simulation, such as the length of the simulation period, replication, and so on. Users thus work with something they know, something they can grasp. They can “just click on the WITNESS tab” and let the simulation process run.
“We always create the outputs from the digital twin with the customer to make it as understandable as possible for him/her. In them, he/she can find, for example, equipment utilization, inventory trends, but we also motivate him/her to dynamic parameters,” says P. Jalůvka.
At the same time, however, he points out that controlling digital twins through Excel has its limits. It is always necessary to clearly define what the changeable parameters are (number of workers, number of work groups, operating times on equipment, etc.) All inputs must be defined in advance.
“If we want to modify more variables, then the only option is a simulation model,” he states.
The biggest problem? There are not enough people for it
According to Petr Jalůvka, there is no problem that people in companies do not believe in dynamic simulations. The reason why they are so little used so far is the lack of experts.
“Someone has to deal with simulations on a daily basis. It is a tool that, in the hands of capable people, examines situations with maximum accuracy. But it doesn’t run, alone and it’s not enough to work with it just during the lunch break with a snack,” states P. Jalůvka.
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