Proceedings of the 2015 Winter Simulation Conference

L. Yilmaz, W. K. V. Chan, I. Moon, T. M. K. Roeder, C. Macal, and M. D. Rossetti, eds.

INTRODUCTION TO SIMIO

Renee M. Thiesing
C. Dennis Pegden

Simio LLC
504 Beaver St.
Sewickley, PA, 15143, USA

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the SimioTM modeling system that is designed to simplify model building by promoting
a modeling paradigm shift from the process orientation to an object orientation. Simio is a simulation
modeling framework based on intelligent objects. The intelligent objects are built by modelers and then
may be reused in multiple modeling projects. Although the Simio framework is focused on object-based
modeling, it also supports a seamless use of multiple modeling paradigms including event, process, object,
systems dynamics, agent-based modeling, and Risk-based Planning and scheduling (RPS).

1 THE SIMIO OBJECT PARADIGM

Simio is a simulation modeling framework based on intelligent objects. The intelligent objects are built
by modelers and then may be reused in multiple modeling projects. Objects can be stored in libraries and
easily shared. A beginning modeler may prefer to use pre-built objects from libraries, however the system
is designed to make it easy for even beginning modelers to build their own intelligent objects for use in
building hierarchical models.
An object might be a machine, robot, airplane, customer, doctor, tank, bus, ship, or any other thing that
you might encounter in your system. A model is built by combining objects that represent the physical
components of the system. A Simio model looks like the real system. The model logic and animation is
built as a single step. Further, you might typically work in 2D mode for ease of modeling, but the fully
automatic compelling 3D animation is just a single keystroke away (Figure 1).
An object may be animated in 3D to reflect the changing state of the object. For example a forklift
truck raises and lowers its lift, a robot opens and closes its gripper, and a battle tank turns its turret. The
animated model provides a moving picture of the system in operation. Simio provides a direct link to
Google Warehouse (a free massive online library of graphic symbols) for animating 3D objects (Figure 2).
Objects are built using the concepts of object-orientation. However unlike other object oriented simu-
lation systems, the process of building an object is very simple and completely graphical. There is no need
to write programming code to create new objects.
The activity of building an object in Simio is identical to the activity of building a model – in fact there
is no difference between an object and a model. This concept is referred to as the equivalence principle and
is central to the design of Simio. Whenever you build a model it is by definition an object that can be
instantiated into another model. For example, if you combine two machines and a robot into a model of a
work cell, the work cell model is itself an object that can then be instantiated any number of times into other
models. The work cell is an object just like the machines and robot are objects. In Simio there is no way
to separate the idea of building a model from the concept of building an object. Every model that is built
in Simio is automatically a building block that can be used in building higher level models.

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Figure 1: Ease of 2D modeling, with compelling 3D presentations

Figure 2: 3D object imported directly into Simio from Google Symbol Warehouse

2 THE OBJECT ORIENTED FOUNDATION

Many popular programming languages such as C++, C#, and Java are all built around the basic principles
of object oriented programming (OOP). In this programming paradigm software is constructed as a collec-
tion of cooperating objects that are instantiated from classes. These classes are designed using the core
principles of abstraction, encapsulation, polymorphism, inheritance, and composition.

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The abstraction principle can be summarized as focusing on the essential. The basic principle is to
make the classes structure as simple as possible.
The encapsulation principle specifies that only the object can change its state. Encapsulation seals the
implementation of the object class from the outside world.
Polymorphism provides a consistent method for messages to trigger object actions. Each object class
decides how to respond to a specific message.
Inheritance is a key concept that allows new object classes to be derived from existing object classes:
this is sometimes referred to as the “is-a” relationship. This is also referred to as sub-classing since we are
creating a more specialized class of an object. Sub-classing typically allows the object behavior to be
extended with new logic, and also modified by overriding some of the existing logic.
Composition allows new object classes to be built by combining existing object classes: this is some-
times referred to as the “has-a” relationship. Objects become building blocks for creating higher level
objects.
Many people assume that object-oriented programming concepts were developed within the program-
ming world; however this was not the case. These principles were developed for building simulation mod-
els, and then adopted by the programming world.
Although the simulation world created the original object-oriented concepts, until recently it had yet to
produce an object-oriented modeling framework that practitioners have widely embraced. Although there
have been a number of attempts to provide such a framework, in the end practitioners have for the most
part stuck to their proven process orientation for modeling. One of the big reasons for this is that most
object-oriented simulation tools still require the user to step back in time 25 years and code their models
and/or objects in a programming language. Simio has a significantly better way.

3 THE SIMIO OBJECT FRAMEWORK

The Simio object framework is built on the same basic principles as object oriented programming lan-
guages; however these principles are applied within a modeling framework and not a programming frame-
work. For example the Microsoft development team that designed C# applied these basic principles in the
design of that programming language. Although these same principles drive the design of Simio, the result
is not a programming language, but rather a graphical modeling system. This distinction is important in
understanding the design of Simio.
Simio is not simply a simulation modeling tool that is programmed in an OOP language (although it is
programmed in C#). Likewise it is not simply a set of classes available in an OOP language such as Java
or C++ that are useful for building simulation models. Simio is a graphical modeling framework to support
the construction of simulation models that is designed around the basic object oriented principles. For
example when you create an object such as a “machine” in Simio, the principle of inheritance allows you
to create a new class of machines that inherits the base behavior of a “machine”, but this behavior can be
modified (overridden) and extended. Whereas in a programming language we extend or override behavior
by writing methods in a programming language, in Simio we extend or override behavior by adding and
overriding graphically defined process models.
This distinction between object oriented modeling and object oriented programming is crucial. With
Simio the skills required to define and add new objects to the system are modeling skills, not programming
skills.

4 THE ANATOMY OF AN OBJECT (MODEL)

When you create a model in Simio, you are creating an object class from which multiple instances can be
created. This process is referred to as instantiation.
When you instantiate an object into a model, you may specify properties of the object that govern the
behavior of this specific instance of this object. For example the properties for a machine might include
the setup, processing, and teardown time, along with a bill of materials and an operator required during the

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setup. The creator of the object decides on the number and the meaning of the properties. The properties
in Simio are strongly typed and can represent numeric values, Booleans, strings, object references, dates
and times, etc. Since any model that you build is by definition an object, you have the opportunity to
parameterize your model through properties as well.

In addition to properties, objects also have states. States are also strongly typed but always map to a
numeric value. For example the Booleans true and false map to 1 and 0, and an enumerated list of state
names map to the list index position (0, 1, …., N) in the list. A state changes as a result of the execution of
the logic inside the object. Properties can be thought of as inputs to an object, and states can be thought of
as output responses that change throughout the execution of the object logic. A state might represent a
count of completed parts, the status of a machine selected from an enumerated state list, the temperature of
an ingot heating in a furnace, the level of oil in a ship being filled, or the accumulation level on a conveyor
belt.
There are two basic types of states: discrete and continuous. A discrete state is a value that only changes
at event times (customer arrival, machine breakdown, etc.) A continuous state (e.g. tank level, position of
a cart, etc.) has a value that changes continuously over time.

5 THREE OBJECT TIERS

One of the important and unique internal design features of Simio is the use of a three tier object structure
that separates an object into an object definition, object instance, and object realization. The object defini-
tion specifies the object behavior and it is shared by all instances of the object. An object instance is simply
an instance of that object within a parent object definition (e.g., a lathe machine instance is placed inside a
work cell definition). The object instance defines the property values for each individual instance of the
object and this instance data is in turn shared by all object realizations.
The object realization is used to represent a specific realization of an instance within an expanded model
hierarchy. For example, each time a new work cell instance is placed in a parent object definition (e.g., a
production line) it creates the need for a new realization for the embedded lathe. Although the work cell
definition is built from a single lathe instance, this single lathe instance cannot hold the state values corre-
sponding to multiple lathe realizations that result from multiple instances of the work cell. The object
realizations provide the mechanism for holding this hierarchical state information in a very compact form.
The object realizations are only created during model execution and hold only the model state variables and
a reference to their parent object instance. This is a highly efficient structure that is crucial for large scale
applications such as agent-based models that can have many thousands of object realizations.

6 THREE WAYS TO BUILD OBJECT DEFINITIONS

The previous example in which we defined a new object definition (work cell) by combining other objects
(machines and a robot) is one example of how we can create object definitions in Simio. This type of object
is called a composed object because we create this object by combining two or more component objects.
This object building approach is fully hierarchical, i.e., a composed object can be used as a component
object in building higher level objects. This is only one way of building objects in Simio - there are two
other important methods.
The most basic method for creating objects in Simio is by defining the logical processes that alter their
state in response to events. For example, a machine object might be built by defining the processes that
alter the machine state as events occur such as part arrival, tool breakdown, etc. This type of modeling is
similar to the process modeling done in traditional modeling systems in use today such as Arena or GPSS.
A base object can in turn be used as a component object for building higher level objects.
The final method for building objects in Simio is based on the concept of inheritance. In this case we
create an object from an existing object by overriding (i.e., replacing) one or more processes within the
object, or adding additional processes to extend its behavior. In other words we start with an object that is

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almost what we want, and then we modify and extend it as necessary to make it serve our own purpose.
For example, we might build a specialized drill object from a generalized machine object by adding addi-
tional processes to handle the failure and replacement of the drill bit. An object that is built in this way is
referred to as a derived object because it is sub-classed from an existing object.
Regardless which method is used to create an object, once created it is used in exactly the same way.
An object can be instantiated any number of times into a model. You simply select the object of interest
and place it (instantiate it) into your model.

7 OBJECT CLASS
There are six basic classes of objects in Simio (Figure 3). These six classes of objects provide a starting
point for creating intelligent objects within Simio. By default, all six of these classes of objects have very
little native intelligence, but all have the ability to gain intelligence. You build intelligent versions of these
objects by modeling their behavior as a collection of event driven processes. The Standard Library included
with Simio provides a rich and customizable set of objects that are derived from these six basic classes of
objects.

Figure 3: Basic Simio object classes

The first class is the fixed object. This object has a fixed location in the model and is used to represent
the things in your system that do not move from one location to another. Fixed objects are used to represent
stationary equipment such as machines, fueling stations, etc. The Simio Standard Library contains a number
of fixed objects, such as the Source, Sink, Server, Workstation, Resource, Combiner and Separator.
Agents are objects that can freely move through 3-dimensional space. Agents are also typically used
for developing agent-based models. This modeling view is useful for studying systems that are composed
of many independently acting intelligent objects that interact with each other and in so doing create the
overall system behavior. Examples of applications include market acceptance of a new product or service,
or population growth of competing species within an environment.
An entity is sub-classed from the Agent class and has one important added behavior. Entities can move
through the system from object to object over a network of links and nodes. Examples of entities include
customers in a service system, work pieces in a manufacturing system, ships in a transportation system,
tanks in a combat system, and doctors, nurses, and patients in a health delivery system.
Note that in traditional modeling systems the entities are passive and are acted upon by the model
processes. However in Simio the entities can have intelligence and control their own behavior.
Link and node objects are used to build networks over which entities may flow. A link defines a
pathway for entity movement between objects. A node defines a starting or ending point for a link. Links
and nodes can be combined together into complex networks. Although the base link has little intelligence
we can add behavior to allow it to model unconstrained flow, congested traffic flow, or complex material
handling systems such as accumulating conveyors or power and free systems. The Standard Library con-
tains four link objects and two node objects. The Connector, Path, TimePath and Conveyor are derived

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from the Link object and the Basic Node and the Transfer Node are derived from the Node object.The fi-
nal class of object is a transporter and is sub-classed from the entity class. A transporter is an entity that
has the added capability to pickup, carry, and drop off one or more other entities. By default transporters
have none of this behavior, but by adding model logic to this class we can create a wide range of transporter
behaviors. A transporter can model a taxi cab, bus, AGV, subway car, forklift truck, or any other object
that has the ability to carry other entities from one location to another. The Standard Library contains a
Vehicle object and a Worker object, both of which are derived from a Transporter object.
A key feature of Simio is the ability to create a wide range of object behaviors from these six basic
classes. The Simio modeling framework is application domain neutral – i.e., these six basic classes are not
specific to manufacturing, service systems, healthcare, military, etc. However it is easy to build application
focused libraries comprised of intelligent objects from these six classes designed for specific application.
For example it is relatively simple to build an object (in this case a link) that represents a complex accumu-
lating conveyor for use in manufacturing applications. The design philosophy of Simio directs that this
type of domain specific logic belongs in the objects that are built by users, and not programmed into the
core system.
The flexibility provided by this architecture is unprecedented. For example, consider the problem of
modeling multiple cranes on a common runway. This has traditionally been a rather tough application to
model because of the interference between cranes and the wide possibility of interactions. Add movement
in 3 dimensions and acceleration/deceleration to this and it’s a problem that most products solve poorly if
at all. Now consider the new style of underhung cranes that ALSO allow crane cabs to move from bridge
to bridge and even between buildings – a dramatic new level of flexibility, but also modeling complexity.
The Simio transporter object was extended to completely model these new types of cranes entirely in pro-
cess logic WITH NO CODING! Since it is part of the object instead of the Simio engine, users can examine
and even change this logic using graphical processes.

8 CREATING INTELLIGENT OBJECTS WITH PROCESSES

Modeling in Simio begins with base objects – it is the foundation on which higher level objects are built.
A base object in Simio is a fixed object, agent, entity, link, node, or transporter that has intelligence added
by one or more processes. Processes give an object its intelligence by defining the logic that is executed in
response to events.
Each process is a sequence of process steps that is triggered by an event and is executed by a token. A
token is released at the start of the process and is simply a thread of execution (similar to entities in Arena).
A token may have properties (input parameters) and states (runtime changeable values) that control the
execution of the process steps. You can define your own classes of tokens that have different combinations
of properties and states.
The modeling power of Simio comes from the set of events that are automatically triggered for the six
basic classes of objects, along with the process steps that are available to model state changes that occur in
response to these events. Fully mastering the art of building intelligent objects involves learning the events
and the collection of available process steps, along with the knowledge and experience of how to combine
these steps to represent complex logic.
Each step in Simio models a simple process such as holding the token for a time delay, seizing/releasing
of a resource, waiting for an event to occur, assigning a new value to a state, or deciding between alternate
flow paths (Figure 4). Some steps (e.g., Delay) are general purpose steps that are useful in modeling objects,
links, entities, transporters, agents, and groups. Other steps are only useful for specific objects. For exam-
ple, the Pickup and Dropoff steps are only useful for adding intelligence to transporters and the Engage and
Disengage steps are only useful in adding intelligence to Links.
Each object class has its own set of events. For example, a link provides events that fire when entities
enter and leave the link, merge fully onto the link, collide with or separate from other entities that reside on
the link, move within a specified range of another entity, etc. By providing model logic to respond to these

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events we can completely control the movement of entities across the link. For example, to add accumula-
tion logic to the link we simply write a small process that its triggered when an entity collides with the
entity it is following, and reassigns the speed of the entity to match the speed of the entity that it is following.

Figure 4: Graphical Process Definition

The process steps that are used to define the underlying logic for an object are stateless – i.e., they have
properties (input parameters) but no states (output responses). This is important because this means that a
single copy of the process can be held by the object class definition, and shared by an arbitrary number of
object instances. If the process logic is changed, this fact is automatically reflected by all instances of the
object.

9 RISK-BASED PLANNING AND SCHEDULING (RPS)

Although simulation has traditionally been applied to the design problem, it can also be used on an opera-
tional basis to generate production schedules for the factory floor. When used in this mode, simulation is
a Finite Capacity Scheduler (FCS) and provides an alternative to other FCS methods such as optimization
algorithms and job-at-a-time sequencers. However simulation-based FCS has a number of important ad-
vantages (e.g., speed of execution and flexible scheduling logic) that make it a powerful solution for sched-
uling applications. Simio not only provides extensive support for FCS (described just below) but also pro-
vides the unique capability of Risk-based Planning and Scheduling (described at the end of this section).
Simulation provides a simple yet flexible method for generating a finite capacity schedule for the fac-
tory floor. The basic approach with simulation-based scheduling is to run the factory model using the
starting state of the factory and the set of planned orders to be produced. Decision rules are incorporated
into the model to make job selection, resource selection, and routing decisions. The simulation constructs
a schedule by simulating the flow of work through the facility and making “smart” decisions based on the
scheduling rules specified. The simulation results are typically displayed as jobs loaded on interactive Gantt
chart that can be further manipulated by the user. There are a large number of rules that can be applied
within a simulation model to generate different types of schedules focused on measures such as maximizing

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throughput, maintaining high utilization on a bottleneck, minimizing changeovers, or meeting specified due
dates.
Because of the special requirements imposed by scheduling applications (e.g., the need for specialized
decision rules and the need to view the results in the form of an interactive Gantt chart), simulation-based
scheduling applications have typically employed specialized simulators specifically designed for this ap-
plication area. The problem with this approach is that the specialized simulators have built-in, data-driven
factory models that cannot be altered or changed to fit the application. In many cases this built-in model is
an overly simplified view of the complexities of the production floor. This one model fits all approach
severely limits the range of applications for these tools. Some production processes can be adequately
represented by this fixed model, but many others cannot.
Simio takes a different approach by allowing the factory model to be defined using the full general-
purpose modeling power of the tool. Hence the range of applications is no longer restricted by a fixed built-
in model that cannot be altered or changed between applications. The complexities of the production pro-
cess can be fully captured by the user-built Simio model. This not only includes the logic within each work
center, but also the material handling required to move jobs between work centers.
The specialized requirements for FCS applications are addressed by incorporating features into Simio
to specifically support the needs of FCS. These features include the support for externally defined job data
sets along with very flexible modeling of resources and materials. Although these features are specifically
designed to unleash the full modeling power of Simio for FCS applications, they are also useful in general
modeling applications.
A Simio job data set allows a list of jobs to be externally defined for processing by the simulation
model. The jobs are defined in a data set containing one or more tables, with relations defined between
table columns. The specific schema for holding the job data is arbitrary and can be user defined to match
the data schema for the manufacturing data (e.g., an ERP system). The job data typically includes release
and due date, job routings, setup and processing times, material requirements, as well as other properties
that are relevant to the system of interest.. The objects in Simio can directly reference values specified in
the job data set (e.g., processing time) without knowing the schema that was implemented to store the data.
Any object in Simio can serve as a capacitated resource and can have its own independent behavior.
Resources can be selected from a list based on flexible rules such as minimum changeover time or longest
idle time. Resources also support very flexible rules (earliest due date, least remaining slack, critical ratio,
etc.) for selecting between competing jobs that are waiting to seize the resource. Finally the job usage
history for resources can be displayed on an interactive Gantt chart (Figure 5).
The Materials element in Simio provides direct support to model things that can be consumed and
produced during the execution of the model. Materials can also be defined hierarchically to model a tradi-
tional Bill of Materials (BOM) for manufacturing applications. Hence a manufacturing step can be modeled
as the consumption of a specific list of materials within the hierarchical BOM.
A critical problem with the traditional APS approach is that it requires that all the data be fully known and
deterministic. For example all processing times must be fixed and there can be no unexpected events or
delays. Hence the resulting schedule with APS is by nature optimistic, and is typically very different from
what occurs in the real facility. It is common that what starts off as a feasible schedule turns infeasible over
time as variation and unplanned events degrade performance. It is normal to have large discrepancies be-
tween predicted schedules and actual performance. To protect against delays the scheduler must buffer with
some combination of extra time, inventory, or capacity; all adding cost to the system.
Risk-based Planning and Scheduling (RPS) extends traditional APS to fully account for the variation that
is present in nearly any production system, and provides the necessary information to the scheduler to al-
low the upfront mitigation of risk and uncertainty. Simio provides a family of products that let you

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Figure 5: Sample Gantt Chart in Simio Enterprise Edition

leverage your existing investment in planning systems, such as SAP's APO, to finally close the gap be-
tween master planning and detailed production scheduling, thereby driving more revenues and greater
customer satisfaction at reduced cost with existing assets.
Simio's family of RPS products (patent pending) allows for flexible scheduling strategies to support
your key production objectives and lets you quickly reschedule in response to unplanned events. You can
accurately model your complex production processes to capture all critical constraints so that the resulting
schedules reflect the reality of your systems. You can display schedules in a wide range of outputs, includ-
ing interactive Gantt charts that display individual waiting times at critical resources as well the root causes
for non-value added time in the system. Simio products also integrate a 3D animation of your planned
schedule to provide a unique and insightful preview of your facility operations. Simio's RPS solution is
built on the Simio simulation engine and can be flexibly applied across a wide range of industries.

10 SUMMARY
Simio is a new modeling framework based on the core principles of object oriented modeling. It is unique
in the following ways:

 The Simio framework is a graphical object-oriented modeling framework as opposed to simply a set of
classes in an object-oriented programming language that are useful for simulation modeling. The
graphical modeling framework of Simio fully supports the core principles of object oriented modeling


without requiring programming skills to add new objects to the system.
Simio supports 3D animation as a natural part of the modeling process. Simio provides a direct inter-
face to Google Warehouse to make it easy to incorporate realistic 3D symbols into your model.

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 The Simio framework is domain neutral, and allows objects to be built that support many different
application areas. The process modeling features in Simio make it possible to create new objects with


complex behavior without programming (no C#, Java or custom language use is required).
The Simio framework supports multiple modeling paradigms. The framework supports the modeling
of both discrete and continuous systems, and supports an event, process, object, systems dynamics, and


agent modeling views.
The Simio framework provides specialized features to directly support applications in emulation and


finite capacity scheduling that fully leverage the general modeling capabilities of Simio.
Risk-based Planning and Scheduling (RPS) extends traditional APS to fully account for the variation
that is present in nearly any production system, and provides the necessary information to the scheduler
to allow the upfront mitigation of risk and uncertainty.

REFERENCES AND ADDITIONAL READING

Joines, J. A., S. D. Roberts. 2013. Simulation Modeling with Simio: A Workbook. 3nr ed. Pittsburgh: Simio
LLC
Kelton, W. D., J. S. Smith, and D. T. Sturrock. 2014. Simio and Simulation: Modeling, Analysis, Applica-
tions. 3rd ed. Pittsburgh: Simio LLC
Nygaard, K and O-J Dahl. 1962. “SIMULA -- An Extension of ALGOL to the Description of Discrete-
Event Networks.” Presented at the Second International Conference on Information Processing.
Pegden, C. D. 2015. Process Improvement Principles: A Concise Guide for Managers. 1st ed. Sewickley,
Pennsylvania: Simio LLC
Pegden, C. D., D. T. Sturrock. 2013. Rapid Modeling Solutions: Introduction to Simulation and Simio.
Pittsburgh: Simio LLC
Sturrock, D. T. 2011. Success in Simulation, Ongoing blog and discussion. Accessed July 15.
http://simio.com/blog/about-this-blog/.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES

RENEE M. THIESING is a Senior Application Engineer for Simio LLC. She provides technical support,
consulting services and training to Simio’s global customer base. Renee has taught Simio to both users who
are new to the simulation field and to experts who are ready to create their own custom library objects. She
has provided support to simulation projects in the fields of manufacturing, aerospace, healthcare and supply
chain. Renee is also involved with internal product strategy and software testing.
Renee received her bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from The University of Michigan and her
master’s degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University, with a concentration in discrete event
simulation.

C. DENNIS PEGDEN is the founder and CEO of Simio LLC. He was the founder and CEO of Systems
Modeling Corporation, now part of Rockwell Software, Inc. He has held faculty positions at the University
of Alabama in Huntsville and The Pennsylvania State University. He led in the development of the SLAM,
SIMAN, Arena, and Simio simulation tools. He is the author/co-author of three textbooks in simulation
and has published papers in a number of fields including mathematical programming, queuing, computer
arithmetic, scheduling, and simulation. His email is cdpegden@simio.com. Additional company infor-
mation can be found at www.simio.com.

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