WHITEPAPER

Your Organization’s Guide

to Simulation Maturity
From Insight to Impact, Building Your Digital Twin.
Contents
Introducing the Simulation Maturity Framework ...........................................3

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework ..................................................5

The Six Stages of Maturity..................................................................................6

Results.................................................................................................................16
 By reaching higher levels of simulation maturity, organizations
become agile in their ability to plan resourcing, operational
The Benefits of Simulation Maturity
management and capital investment projects, or to respond quickly
to changing business scenarios. And if the covid pandemic has
taught us nothing else, it’s that threats and disruptions can strike at
any time.
$1m per day
Simulation eliminates risk from decision making , meaning that
organizations that use simulation are able to adapt quicker and Fiat Chrysler grew revenue by
$1m per day without

Introducing
maximize their operational performance. This is what makes
simulation such a valuable tool. increasing costs.

the
The transformative benefits of simulation also increase as
organizations evolve their use of simulation to power their digital
twins. This can be achieved through the technologies that are

Simulation adopted for running more sophisticated simulations, as well as in

the investment in people and processes.
400% demand
Maturity We’ve designed this framework to examine these three factors and
be used as a roadmap in evolving the use of simulation in your
FujiFilm was able to

Framework
organization to reach greater simulation maturity and realize faster meet a 400% increase
ROI. The goal at every stage is to be able to get to value from in demand.
decision-making much faster, but it’s the accuracy, speed,
automation and foresight from simulation that improves
significantly as greater levels of maturity are achieved.

In this white paper we use our experience of deploying simulations

within governments, healthcare providers, enterprises and SMBs
around the world, to set a north star for business leaders to follow 275% productivity
towards greater simulation maturity and exponential ROI. We will Controlant saw a 275%
explore what happens at each stage of this journey so that you can
understand where your business currently stands, what enablers
increase in production
you have at your disposal to improve decision making, and how to levels.
leverage them effectively in your path towards simulation maturity.
The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 3
 Building on data analytics
By using simulation, you will have already taken steps to advance the Even at its entry level, simulation offers the opportunity to move
use of data analytics within your organization. Simulation provides a from insight-based decisions to having full foresight of the impact of
gateway to greater maturity in capturing, analyzing, and then decisions. It enables users to demonstrate exactly what will happen
leveraging operational data to support predictive, prescriptive and, in the future, following any changes or adaptations to a process. This
later, cognitive decision making. Or, in other words, better, more starts with implementing one-off simulations, and it moves to
accurate decisions that will see a value return come quicker than becoming a tool that is fully embedded across an organization. From

Introducing
ever. there it can be used to support all operational decision making,
introduce real-time and continuous assessment, and later look with
When Gartner introduced its Advanced Analytics Maturity great accuracy into the future to avert crises before they happen.

the
Framework in 2018 (above), it provided an excellent view of the
potential that lay ahead as an organization becomes more
effective at leveraging data. The greatest value, it said, would

Simulation come with the ability and foresight to prescribe evidence-based

actions born out of analytics; it is at this point that the data tells

Maturity
you what actions are needed to achieve the best possible
outcome.

Framework
Imagine being able to know, with a high degree of certainty, that an Simulation is here
investment in a new plant or technology will give you a measurable
competitive advantage. This is a possibility with the idea of the
“thinking” organization that defines a future reality, combining the
Gartner’s Analytics Maturity Model
accumulated experience of your seasoned experts with the power of
machine learning and AI. And if you think this is science fiction, just
look at the accelerated pace of innovation with the impact of
language learning models like ChatGPT, which have caused leaders
to rethink entire business models.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 4

 The Simulation Maturity Framework has six levels. There is a journey
towards being able to run progressively more sophisticated simulations
by advancing through each level. With each development, reward comes
with improved ROI on every decision that has been simulated, which
unlocks increasing value for the organization. One-off simulations
employed to solve a specific challenge develop gradually to a world of
self-learning simulations powered with advanced technologies ranging
from machine learning to process mining.

Introducing It’s important to note that this is not a linear journey. Becoming
proficient at one level puts an organization in position to advance to the The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework
the
next level up, but each level provides a different building block needed
for simulation maturity; all must be in play for the optimum
application of simulation and the greatest ROI. An organization that 6 Self-learning, Adaptive Digital Twin

Simulation
can operate effectively across this framework, with all aspects working Maximize my process performance for me
in harmony, will discover exponential value from simulation.

5 Auto Tuning Performance

Maturity
In the following pages we will explain exactly what to expect
Heads up on a crisis before it happens so you can prevent it
at each level. It will provide benchmarking for any
organization to understand its current maturity in the

Framework application of simulation, and details on how to unlock the

business benefits of higher levels. 4 Real Time Digital Twin
Simulation making the complex decisions for you

3 Operational Planning
Dynamic simulation based forecasting

2 Every Process Change Simulated

Ongoing, robust, well managed continuous improvement

1 One Off Analysis

Guaranteed return on investment and CI decisions

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 5

 What happens at level one
At level one of the framework, the use of simulation will be new to an Aside from answering the specific question at hand, the bigger goal here
organization. Work will be required to provide proof of concept and is to establish trust and confidence in the approach. First of all, it
build trust. In its simplest form, the outcome that needs to be requires technical skills to build the simulation quickly, accurately and
communicated is ‘we have tested various scenarios, and if we do x, successfully. This will demonstrate the accessibility of simulation, and
1 we will generate y ROI, which offers the greatest improvement by z-
factor.’
the speed to value that it provides. But it is the soft skills that are
paramount. Communicating effectively with the process owner and
other stakeholders in the organization, especially at a senior level, will
Typically, these simulation projects begin with a group of around one to not only help them reach their decision, it will also bring them along on
three process improvement or data analytics specialists, either internal the simulation journey, educating them on its possibilities as an essential
or consultants, working with a process owner and stakeholders to build analytics tool.

Level One
a one-off simulation designed to answer a specific question.
Stakeholders should come away from these experiences with their eyes
Perhaps they need to validate a capital investment. It could be to set up

One Off
opened to the huge potential and value that simulation offers. They will
a new process that does not yet exist. It could be to better understand a see the accuracy of its process replication, the robustness of its
current process and explore ways of tweaking and improving it. outcomes, its easy explanability with visual aids, as well as its agility and

Analysis Level one considers questions like:

versatility to be adopted for all kinds of decision-making. This can all be
linked to ROI to form a solid business case.

• What is happening? This will be the start of their simulation journey. The organization builds
• Why is it happening? on these one-off successes by taking on and answering more and more
• What will happen? process validation questions through simulation. It begins to
• What is the optimal solution to select? fundamentally change the way in which all decisions are made. As more
people within the organization hear about the benefits of using
The project group will replicate a current status and then facilitate simulation, they too will want to try it out, so the demand grows.
experimentation by simulating a variety of scenarios to uncover the
optimum course of action. This all happens in the safety of a digital At this stage, it’s important to expand the simulation team as early as
space before anything is implemented in the real world, and at minimal possible so that it has the capacity to maintain this momentum and
cost. Through simulation, they can gather diagnostic analytics and then meet the growing demand. Training more people in simulation building
accurately predict outcomes in order to make evidence-based is key, as well as engaging more people in how to use it to make
recommendations. decisions.
The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 6
 Level overview

People
A champion will be the early advocate for simulation within an against the business value that they bring to make the ROI as clear as
organization. It is their job to introduce the technology, processes and possible. Building trust in the process is as important as trust in the
approach, and get buy-in . Typically, they will be process improvement people and technology, so projects need to be well organized with
or data analytics specialists. Ideally you will have a champion that is clear working guidelines.
1 effective at delivering on the technical requirements of simulation
building and can lead on architecturing solutions as well as developing
Technology
technical talent and skills. They will be a center point to build a team
around. Another champion could lead at engaging process owners and It’s essential to focus on arriving at a solution, not on building the
senior decision makers, working across teams and driving cultural ‘perfect’ simulation. In other words, the simulation only needs to be built
change in the business. They will need to be astute at communicating as far as needed to reveal a solution. This is important in demonstrating
the speed and agility of simulation. Creating positive user experience is a

Level One
the business benefits from all simulation projects. These champions
will need to train more people in delivering both the technical and soft key - again, for building trust among stakeholders. Invest early in training
teams to be able to quickly build good user interfaces to overlay a

One Off
skills of simulation projects in order to start growing a full simulation
team as the demand increases. simulation. This will deliver on two fronts. First, it will facilitate rapid
experimentation by allowing users to easily tweak the inputs and see the

Analysis Process
results of alternative actions. Secondly, it will make presenting the
results a much more engaging experience when reporting to senior
management, which will be essential for their buy-in. This visuality is a
Setting roles and responsibilities for all people involved in a simulation benefit that is unique to simulation, so use it as your superpower.
project must be laid out early, letting all collaborators know what is
expected of them. Establishing how to record results and share
information, schedules, and timelines also provides structure to
simulation projects. Simulation must be delivered with the same agility “The simulation model gave us a view of our
and pace that the organization needs to make decisions at, so the production facility that we just hadn’t seen
processes must match. The recommendations of simulation projects before, identifying the easy wins in
must always be mapped optimization that are also cost saving.“
Arnar Þór Ingason
Device Operations Engineer at Controlant

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 7

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 7
 What happens at level two
Now, every process change is simulated before it can be approved. as recruitment, succession, growth, continuity, and continuous training.
They will have technical best practices defined to enable rapid building
Having spent time building trust and increasing adoption throughout of simulations. This could be in the form of reusable code, or templates
the organization, simulation is embedded for everyday use. Having seen to standardize the presentation of results.
the uplift gained from improvements made at a process level simulation It is vital that the team is managed effectively. If it is badly managed,
2 is fully supported by C-suite. In fact, leaders are unwilling to take the risk then the trust in simulation that has been built over a long period could
of implementing any decision without having first simulated it. The key begin to dissipate. Successful organizations are always looking for the
question that you will hear when the organization is at level two is: have most efficient way of doing things, so a successful simulation team
you simulated it yet? needs to work together effectively to seek continuous improvement

Level Two
and maintain high levels of trust. This means clearly defined practices,
The demand for simulation within the organization is very high at this workflows and guidelines, and consistency of delivery.
point, so it is essential to have simulation teams equipped and big

Every enough to handle this demand. When you consider the multitude of
different operational processes that occur every day, every single one of

Process these processes, in theory, could be suitable for optimizing by applying

simulation. This means that the simulation team must be ready. It will

Change be well known as a resource available to process owners across the

whole organization, and there will be top-down pressure from the

Simulated
senior leaders to make sure that every decision has been simulated.

A core team of simulation experts within the organization continues to

grow. They have excellent simulation skills and can complete projects
quickly and accurately. Protocols and procedures now need to be put in
place to ensure that the simulation team is set up to handle things such

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 8

 Level overview
People
The simulation team needs to be managed effectively. Identifying people
with the right skillset to run or support projects will feed recruitment “Using Simul8 we could visualize the
and training, as well as ensure succession planning in the event that an production line and actually see queues
experienced simulation builder leaves the organization. The team will be building up in our process. From this we tested
made up of different employees within the organization with their own various scenarios to improve efficiency
roles and responsibilities outside of simulation projects, so people resulting in savings of nearly $150,000.“
2 resourcing plans are important. The more simulation is used, the more
people will be needed on the team, but any organization that has James Larson, Principal Industrial Engineer at Boston
reached this level of simulation maturity has at least ten employees
involved. This number grows indefinitely, since there are an indefinite
number of decisions that need to be made, but the size of the team

Level Two required will depend on the size and type of organization.

Every Process
Version control and standardization must be adhered to in order to be

Process successful at this level of maturity. Appropriate monitoring and

reporting systems must be put in place. The target is clearly defined

Change
practices, workflows and guidelines, and good organization of data and
shareable data sources. This will be determined at C-suite-level, since

Simulated
simulation is now a key part of strategic decision making and planning.

Technology
Since simulation will be used so frequently, it is during this phase of
maturity that the simulation team will begin to build their own solution.
They will have a variety of components for repeated use so that new
simulations can be built even quicker where there are crossovers with
past or similar simulations. The simulation software is feature-rich and
capable of refining model building to even greater accuracy. Keeping up
to date with features as the software continues to evolve will be an
important part of staff training.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 9

 What happens at level three
In levels one and two of the maturity framework, simulations are being In any organization, the chances are high that a process is going to
built and then thrown away once they have served their purpose i.e. change over the course of a year, maybe several times. Organizations
answered their question. At stage three, however, they are now being that have developed their application of simulation to a point where
adopted routinely for recurring decisions, so they need to be built to they are prescriptive and reusable will be in the best position to manage
last. By using simulation in this continuous way, these regular decisions these changes effectively so that they can stay on target.
3 are being made more accurately every time, raising the bar on process
efficiency to new standards. These simulations work as replicas of key This can apply to operations such as production scheduling, staffing
real world processes, so this is the point when many organizations begin rotas, or adapting capacity with the introduction of new projects.
to refer to them as digital twins. Perhaps some new regulations are due to become compulsory later in

Level Three
the quarter and need to be gradually integrated into a process. Perhaps
The key question that is associated with this level of simulation maturity a new service line has a launch date and resourcing will need to be split
is: what is the optimal action to take? These simulations are capable during the build up in order to support the launch while maintaining

Operational of providing decision makers with real foresight when it comes to

examining the options available for forward planning. Simulation
other lines. Perhaps the organization is introducing unplanned
equipment updates that will require installation, training, adoption

Planning can support the quick implementation of strategic decisions on a

more frequent basis than had been possible before, meaning that
the organization reaches new levels of agility to respond to changing
and full integration without impacting other operations. Being able to
look further forward using an established simulation tool that offers
prescriptive insights will enable the smartest possible planning.
conditions and not be stuck with an outdated plan as things inevitably
change. Simulations, or at least the recommendations that the process
generates, are very visible to department managers at this stage, as
One of the greatest benefits of reaching this level of maturity is that it is their go-to tool when new planning decisions are required. This
decision makers no longer need to rely solely on annual forecasting and is one way in which simulation has become democratized within an
planning. Instead, simulations are now available to supplement long organization. It has been built with a very accessible interface to make
term planning with the ability to make the important decisions at more it as easy as possible for them to quickly plug in the data they have,
regular intervals. This can be quarterly, seasonally, month-by-month, press a button and receive the recommendations on the most optimal
or even from one shift pattern to the next. Overall, the organization solution.
is much more agile to change. This system of regular testing and
improvement means that targets can be reached far quicker. A danger at this stage is if the organization tries to create simulations
that are over-sophisticated and more complex than is actually required
The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 10
The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 10
 Level overview

People
Simulation architects now have greater maintenance responsibility as
the simulations are living alongside real-world processes at all times.
Decision makers across the organization have access to the interface at “A project that I had previously spent three
all times. months on took me less than 10 minutes to
3 build.“
Process Ron Movilla, Quality Assurance Officer at Hamilton Health
These simulations require ongoing management, traceability, updates
and back-ups. The simulation team will be required to ensure version

Level Three control when making any changes. Change management is essential
in making sure that the simulation tool is adopted and embedded to

Operational
the extent that it completely changes the way in which all decisions
are made.

Planning Technology
The simulation will have been completely tailored to the organization’s
needs. It has been built to use on a continuous basis with core
components that are adaptable to cater for any possible use case within
an organization’s operational needs. The simulation team are more like
simulation architects now, as opposed to the simulation engineers that
were required to run earlier projects. They will be creating bespoke
simulations with far more elaborate interfaces` that make it easier for
users to directly play with and change the simulations to meet their
everyday, operational needs.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 11

 What happens at level four
Where simulation as a stand-alone tool is very visible to the wider environment, supporting operational decisions throughout the day with
workforce in level three of this framework, with senior staff using the robust recommendations. The rate of operational improvement and
interface regularly for planning decisions, by the time the organization resulting ROI is exponential. Every single decision can be optimized. The
has moved into level four of the framework, simulation has become most common question that staff are asking the simulation at this level
firmly nestled into the tech stack. It will link up with the organization’s of maturity is: what should I do next?
4 various data systems, such as ERP, Salesforce or product inventory. This
makes it possible to make real-time decisions based on the most up This still relies on having solid trust in the process and technology.
to date and accurate information. In the most sophisticated instances, Without this trust, organizations cannot reap the full rewards found at
where financial information is part of the connected data within the this level of maturity. Education and training is required to ensure that

Level Four
organization, users will be able to see the immediate impact on the simulation users are able to interpret the information correctly and are
bottom line as the data is refreshed. ready to accept and implement its recommendations. This is especially
the case if the recommendations go against a ‘gut feeling’. Perhaps

Real Time Digital These simulations often work in conjunction with a digital twin. This
is where simulations will be used to supercharge a digital twin with
there is an element of ‘well, we’ve always done it this way’, and staff are
reluctant to action something that feels counterintuitive.

Twin the capability for fully digitized testing and verification of changes to
a process - asking ‘what if? questions - in a virtual environment. To
be in position to do this, the organization is already well established
In our experience, the ‘gut feeling’ of the most experienced decision
makers is usually extremely accurate. This remains invaluable to every
organization, especially when building simulations in the first place.
in maintaining sophisticated data-led approaches in all aspects of its However, simulation is now there to ensure continuity and consistency
operational management. in accurate decision making. Beyond that, it can account for far wider
conditions than is possible for even the most experienced individual
Decisions can be made on a continuous basis, hour by hour, or to see. Being linked into the full operational data set available to an
even second by second. The simulation is now helpful in a real time organization, simulation will provide access to the complete picture of

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 12

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 12
 Level overview

People
A wider group of people have access to simulation at level four. It has
been designed with an interface that is accessible for staff to plug in the
details of their query and receive recommendations quickly and directly.
Model users are the recipients of its reports and expected to follow
4 the recommendations. This means that they require a simple interface
that provides them with just the information they need. Trust in using
the technology must be unconditional in order to reap its full benefits,
especially when the recommendation does not fit previous activity.

Level Four Process

Real Time Digital Protocol on following the simulation’s recommendations must be

adhered to. Model builders will have structured audits of simulations at

Twin semi-regular intervals, perhaps quarterly, to ensure that the simulation

is still representative of the process, but soon machine learning starts to
take care of this (more details at the next level).

Technology

Simulation is now fully integrated into the tech stack, linking into the
organization’s various data systems, such as ERP, Salesforce,
inventory management.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 13

 What happens at level five
Simulation is now continuously monitoring business performance, scenarios. As such, level five of the framework offers incomparable
building on the real-time operational usage achieved in level four to business resilience and stability. It means that teams no longer need
become ‘always on’ in identifying and solving any process blocks. In to firefight, or manage the fallout from diverting attention away from
the earlier stages of maturity, simulation offered a means to plan for business-as-usual activities when dealing with curveballs. They have
the period ahead based on expected scenarios, or react to current reached a point of maturity where they are using simulation to provide
5 scenarios. It is now possible to run simulations forward further into the 360 degree foresight.
unknown. These simulations have the capacity to discover problems From a maintenance perspective, this is also the point at which machine
down the track much earlier than was ever possible before, and then learning is taking care of programming decision rules based on its
recommend the best corrective action to take. It is a way of avoiding attained knowledge of a process. At the same time, process mining is

Level Five
costly mistakes altogether. bringing together data sources and determining how they should be
used to best effect. The role of these two technologies is to perform the
Simulation has evolved into a tool that can predict a crisis before it verification and validation of data use and models, meaning that you

Auto Tuning happens. This ‘playing forward’ to test all possible scenarios can be
delivered continuously and run ahead indefinitely, but most commonly
are left with an even more robust simulation and lighter maintenance
burden.

Performance it is used to look at the next few months to tie in with typical planning
initiatives. The questions being asked of simulation at this point are:
what don’t I know? And what is the optimal corrective action I can take?
Being able to continue operations under the most challenging of
circumstances is dependent on being agile and being able to take the
appropriate remedial action as early as possible. Just think of what
With this advanced level of foresight, simulation offers happened during the covid crisis. While most organizations won’t use
recommendations for adaptations that can preemptively auto-tune simulation to predict global pandemics (although it is used in this way),
performance. It provides organizational management with a tool it will be a tool to provide the insights and foresight needed for essential
to prevent worst case scenarios from ever occurring, or provide contingency planning. It will be able to cater for a multitude of resource
the recommendations needed to work towards meeting best case and capacity issues that might occur.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 14

 What happens at level six
Simulation is now self-learning and can work almost independently Of course, these exciting new technologies are evolving fast, so who
to maximize process performance. As computing power continues to knows where they can take simulations next. Perhaps you will be able to
get faster, and AI keeps getting more intelligent, the simulation engine run projects with voice activated commands. Perhaps 3D visualizations
is increasingly able to understand, analyze and refine any process will be enhanced with augmented reality for a more immersive
instantaneously and with light touch from the simulation team. It’s the experience when viewing or presenting simulations to stakeholders.
6 equivalent of creating a floor manager with 30 years’ experience in just Perhaps your digital twin will grow to encompass the whole organization
minutes. With its sophisticated self-learning, you will soon be asking and use simulation for the planning of all possible scenarios for
your simulation how can I maximize every single process? all possible processes. Perhaps there will be a level seven to this
framework that we do not yet know about.

Level Six
Running 1,000s of simulations in quick succession, or even
simultaneously, allows an organization to create a playbook that offers
recommendations of what to do in all potential scenarios. In this way,

Self-learning, organizations at this level of maturity become extremely resilient and

agile to change, while also being able to maximize ROI much faster.

Adaptive Simulation is now helping to create whole strategies, not just solving
problems.

Digital Twin Organizations in level six of the maturity framework are slick at letting
the technology do the hard work for them in defining and then
optimizing processes. This is where they can really lean into adopting
modern technologies within their operational practices, and we are
talking about the technology of today. Machine learning, process
mining, generative AI, quantum computing - these are all technologies
that are already hitting mainstream utility in various forms. And they
are all ways of powering up your simulation engine to make it more
robust, accurate and helpful.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 15

 Our collaboration with a range of organizations over the years, has shown us the
transformative journey that occurs working through the Simulation Maturity
Framework. These organizations have exemplified how the strategic
implementation of digital twins and simulation creates an environment of agility
and foresight.

Organizations that embark on this journey find themselves adept in navigating

resource planning, operational management, and capital investment projects,
even amidst rapidly changing business landscapes.

Simulation The subsequent pages are dedicated to unfolding some of these

organizations we’ve worked with. Here, we present a thorough

Maturity in exploration of how using digital twins and having the Simulation
Maturity Framework as a roadmap, helped guide these

Action
organizations to not just envision but actualize a future marked by
informed decision-making and operational resilience.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 16

“Simul8 has become essential to the
How Crimestoppers relieves the pressure on its contact center
way that the organization is run. It through process simulation
was initially selected to examine a How the UK-based charity handled a 50 percent increase in customer contact and improved its staff management by testing its
business case for employing more operations via process simulation
staff, but now it provides guidance to The Challenge
the management team on a variety of Crimestoppers has a vital role to play in informing the UK public about Crimestoppers undertook an assessment of its call handling
different issues on a daily basis.” crimes and facilitating reports. The organization handles 600,000 management and began stress testing its operations through
contacts from the public annually through its single UK contact center, simulations of a variety of different scenarios designed to reflect real-life
Karen Ogborn, Chief of Staff resulting in 175,000 criminal reports made to police each year. It is patterns of demand.
open 24 hours a day for 365 days a year.
Results
The not-for-profit organization has experienced a 50 percent increase Crimestoppers started using simulation and gained a much more
in calls from the public over the last five years, but without a realistic model of how its contact center operated. The technology
corresponding increase in investment into infrastructure or staff. The enabled the organization to simulate changing levels of demand and
resourcing team was aware that employees were being stretched but provide accurate data on how well equipped it was to manage incoming
“With Simul8, we can look at the data there was no data available to provide evidence on just how busy the contacts in the most efficient way possible.
and say to provide this service at that contact center was.
level we are going to need X amount Although simulation was initially selected to examine a business case for
Staff take information online or by phone with each channel having its employing more staff, it now provides guidance to the management
of resources. For the first time, we own response processes in place and Crimestoppers needed to ensure team on a variety of different issues on a daily basis.
can build that into the costing that the information was handled promptly and efficiently. There are
properly, which has been a huge multiple service lines that employees at the contact center can be The application of simulation has also made the organization better able
working on, including the Home Office immigration enforcement, to assign priorities to calls and to handle responses better. It has also
benefit to us.“ energy safe, NHS fraud and the integrity ones for whistleblowing calls, helped improve response rates while helping employees cope with the
Louise Peers, Head of Contact Center Services and employees can get moved around depending on demand. pressure of their jobs. Simulation has become an indispensable tool in
daily planning, helping the organization to manage its full capacity
The organization did not have the luxury of working from home during among the constantly shifting dynamics of a busy contact center.
the Covid-19 pandemic as much of the material being handled was
very sensitive. Consequently, any changes had to take effect within the
structure of the office. The traditional method for calculating staffing
levels had been the Erlang formula, an equation used to calculate call
traffic intensity, but this was increasingly seen as inaccurate.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 17

 Using a simulation-powered digital twin to streamline daily logistical
“The project amplified the warehouse
planners’ processes, enabling them to
operations and minimize disruption to the retail supply chain network
allocate resources very precisely to How CEVA Logistics deployed a Digital Twin to revolutionize routine operational planning, achieving a reduction of 200 working hours
per week and enhancing the fulfillment center's weekly capacity by 2%.
the different stations. This allowed
our customer to save working hours The Challenge
CEVA handles 125 retail logistics contracts in 25 countries and CEVA worked with Simul8 to create a simulation-powered digital twin
and invest that free capacity in other manages eight of the world’s top ten retailers' strategic supply chains. linked to real-time data from the fulfillment center’s systems. This
areas and reduce costs. CEVA utilized Simul8’s digital twin technology to create a simulation- technology enabled CEVA to conduct continuous ‘what if’ analysis. It
powered digital twin – a digital representation of their real-world facilitated advanced optimization by running thousands of permutations
process – to routinely improve resource allocation for one of its to evaluate and then optimize the different strategies available. In this
We saved an average of 200 working fashion retailer’s fulfillment centers and reduce annual operating costs. way, the simulation-powered digital twin could inform process owners
hours per week providing our on the best corrective action to take, whether responding to different
customer with 2% more capacity per A surge in demand has increased the pressure on distributors to inputs, potential challenges, or changes to the operating environment.
deliver fast and efficient customer experiences. In this case, CEVA’s Furthermore, the robust simulation engine enables the digital twin to
week client needed to find a quick and cost-effective way to deal with the adapt in real-time, meaning quick adjustments can be made based on
rapid throughput of large amounts of product in its Brandenburg emerging data to forecast future process performance, offering granular
We were also able to explore how the fulfillment center. insights into the fulfillment center’s dynamic operations, which
minimized risk, reduced downtime, and accelerated time to market.
simulation reacts to extra volume, in However, the volatile nature of fast fashion created several challenges
Results
order to further refine the process for for logistics managers, including changeable levels of demand for
the future. stock, the need for swift and accurate turnaround times, and Following the creation of the simulation-powered digital twin, fulfillment
maintaining a tight hold on the fulfillment center's costs. The complex center planners could allocate resources efficiently and determine the
nature of the fulfillment center’s operations made it hard to manually precise number of staff needed at each phase. The result was an
Cosimo Piancastelli, Business Intelligence assess the daily, weekly, or annual impact of potential changes or average saving of 200 working hours per week and a 2% increase in
Specialist improvements to the supply chain network. capacity across the facility. The digital twin publishes results hourly and
delivers crucial data to the fulfillment center’s control room operators.
There was a need for the fulfillment center to identify the optimum This information contains analyses of actual inventory versus forecasted
number of employees required per shift to keep within a specified and simulated inventory.
utilization percentage and avoid overburdening the system without
disrupting operations. Using Simul8’s simulation-powered digital twin These results enabled fulfillment center managers to optimize staffing
technology would enable planners to test new processes and levels within the facility on specific days and shifts. Not only did this
implement changes to the supply chain network without impacting live improve utilization rates, but it also ensured the system was never
activity. under too much stress.

The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 18

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it. Join thousands of companies using Simul8 to transform decision making at their
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The Simul8 Simulation Maturity Framework | 19