Techniques for the application of computers to industrial simulation

This paper reprints one of the classic papers on simulation, written by the late K D Tocher. He wrote: The increasing complexity of the problems that are being tackled by operational researchers requires the implementation of the ‘Monte Carlo’ simulation method. In the manufacturing context this involves making an abstract model of a plant and working the model by supplying the random elements with random numbers. The burden of computation required to run these simulations makes the use of computers a natural choice. So far, however, the use of computers has not shortened the time to complete a simulation study due to the time required for analysis, programming and coding. The solution proposed in this paper is a generalized simulation program. The requirements for such a program are discussed and an outline of the nature of the program is given.