Table of Contents

President's Message

Welcome to the first Michigan Simulation User Group newsletter for 2001.

A humble “thank you” to MSUG steering committee for choosing me as President.

Starting this New Year as the President of MSUG is exciting.

The Steering Committee that you, the General Membership, have chosen makes my task a simple one.We have a great team.Everyone is enthusiastic, informed and willing to take on his or her individual role with purpose.I have emphasized that we need to make our organization even more fun and informative than it has already been to many of us.Your steering committee is in full agreement.

Individual assignments have been modified slightly in an attempt to bring more attention to our Website and increase Publicity.Any extra efforts from this group will be pointed in that direction.More links to more people and businesses should help increase our membership; thereby increasing our ability to bring more information (knowledge) and interesting activities to the General Membership.

As our economy appears to be heading for a slowdown the need for throughput analysis can be even more critical to profitability.As practitioners of throughput, MSUG is yet another chance for us to network and learn to improve personal performance.Be sure to take advantage of your opportunities with MSUG!

I look forward to seeing you at General Membership meetings and don’t forget to keep an Internet “bookmark” on http://www.m-sug.org.

Randy Combs, President

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Report on Annual All-Day Conference

The MSUG All Day Conference held on Wednesday November 1st, 2000 was a great success.It was attended by 64 simulationists representing two countries (United States and Canada) and from eight states within the United States.As you might suspect, most of the attendees were from Michigan, although there was also representation from Arizona, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Ontario.Industries represented at the conference were Furniture, Tooling Suppliers, Material Handling Suppliers, Automotive, Automotive Tier 1 Suppliers, Engineering Consultants, and Software Vendors.

The day began with a keynote address from Khaled Mabrouk of The Model Builders on Enabling Simulation Drivers.This was followed by three talks by Mark Steury of Visteon Automotive Systems, Joe Hugan of Forward Vision, and Shreekanth Moorhy of Engineering Animation, Incorporated.

The afternoon was filled with the hit of the day.Five simulation software vendors participated in a Vendor Face-Off.Each of the vendors was given the same problem and given one hour to develop a solution.Each of the vendors then presented the model and results to the audience.The clear winners of this competition were the audience.It provided us a look at five software packages, allowing us to see what each of them could do.It is thought that this exercise may be repeated in a few years to again do a comparison.

The day ended with a panel discussion of software vendors on the topic of "The Future of Simulation".

The feedback for the day was that everyone enjoyed himself or herself and felt the day was beneficial.

Cindy Schiess, Annual Conference Chair

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Editorial Content

Your Editor welcomes readers' comments as fuel for a "Letters to the Editor" column!

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West Michigan General Membership Meeting

On May 16th, MSUG held its general membership meeting in Grand Rapids at the corporate headquarters of Rapistan Systems, who served as the sponsor for this meeting.Approximately 18 attendees enjoyed two excellent presentations.The first presentation was given by Professor Azim Houshyar from Western Michigan University’s Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.Professor Houshyar gave a fascinating discussion on his use of simulation in determining operating strategy and timing requirements for maintenance activities at nuclear power facilities.The maintenance work that Azim simulated is very complicated (numerous subtasks), expensive (millions of dollars in cost), and time-consuming (requiring months and sometimes years).Simulation was used to explore different alternatives for performing the work and to measure the cost and time required for the different strategies.Based on the results from Azim’s simulation work, the Idaho Falls, Idaho facility that Azim was working with was able to make a more educated and intelligent strategy selection.They were also able to more accurately determine the cost and timing for that strategy and were then able to receive additional funding from Congress to complete their work.Several other nuclear facilities are now looking to utilize at least portions of Azim’s large simulation model.

In the second presentation, we were first given an overview of Rapistan Systems and their simulation activities by Len Copus, the simulation manager at Rapistan.Then Jim Kenward, one of the simulation consultants at Rapistan, gave us a general overview of distribution centers – including the typical layout of distribution centers, the various functional areas within distribution centers, and some of the issues that they face.Following this overview, another simulation consultant, Salil Thakar, presented a simulation model of one of the distribution centers that Rapistan has designed (utilizing simulation) and implemented in the real world.As with most of the distribution centers that Rapistan designs, the conveyor systems utilized at the distribution center were interestingly quite complicated with numerous merges and splits involved.Salil discussed how Rapistan uses simulation in the design of these distribution centers to determine the best algorithms to employ in the conveyor merges and splits along with other aspects of the general design and detailed PLC control logic for the conveyor systems.

Following the presentations, 6 of the attendees enjoyed an enjoyable tapas dinner at San Chez Bistro in downtown Grand Rapids.

Eric Haan, West Michigan

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Schedule of Meetings and Events

The schedule for remaining meetings during 2001 is summarized in the table below:

 
Meeting
Date
Time
Location
Steering Committee Meeting
14-Jun-01
12:00-2:00
DSI1
3rd General Membership Meeting
8-Aug-01
4:30-6:30
GM Phoenix Center, Pontiac2
Steering Committee Meeting
13-Aug-01
12:00-2:00
PMC3
Steering Committee Meeting
17-Sep-01
12:00-2:00
CSI4
Annual All-Day Conference
8-Nov-01
8:00-4:00
MSU Training Center, Troy
Steering Committee Meeting
19-Nov-01
12:00-2:00
Forward Vision5

1Detailed directions available from Cindy Schiess, (248) 489-4300

2Detailed directions available from Randy Combs, (248) 874-0253

3Detailed directions available from Susan Khoubyari, 313-441-4460 extension 1171.

4Detailed directions available from HaiPing Xu, (248) 588-8670

5Detailed directions available from Joe Hugan, (734) 462-3110

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Steering Committee Meeting Minutes, 8-Jan-01

The first MSUG steering committee meeting for 2001 was held on January 8, at the Lanner office.

Status reports were given by the members in attendance.

This year's primary focus from the committee will be around promoting MSUG by enhancing our website and improving Public Relation activities.

Ed Williams is our Webmaster and is off to a great start with several initiatives to enhance the access to and quality of our website.Mike Smith is our PR guy with plans for getting our name in more communiqués and publications about MSUG.

The committee decided to entertain a New MSUG Logo contest.Details to follow.The winner will get a free membership for 2002 and free admission to our annual Conference this fall.

Randy Combs, President

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MSUG Meeting Sponsors Policy

As mentioned in our steering committee meeting minutes, the steering committee voted to allow sponsorship of MSUG general membership meetings. Honorable mention will be made to sponsors for their support to MSUG. No "sales pitches" will be permitted for that privilege.

Anyone interested in sponsoring our general meetings should contact our Facilities Chairperson (HaiPing Xu, contact information at left) or other steering committee member for further details.


Dan Cook, Speakers

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Call to Simulation Service Providers

The MSUG Web site is under construction and we are adding a new area for simulation service providers. We will have the name of the company and a link to their web site. If you are a simulation service provider who would like to be added to our web site, or know of one, please initiate arrangements through Edward Williams, Newsletter/Website, ewillia4@ford.com.

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MSUG Annual Conference Software Vendor Face-Off

This year's November 1, 2000 MSUG Conference hosted a "Face-off" event for vendors of discrete-event simulation software. All software participants (ARENA, AutoMod, ProModel, QUEST, SIMUL8, Taylor ED, WITNESS) were provided the same modeling challenge to see who could respond the quickest with the most comprehensive answer to a challenging modeling specification involving the vehicle maintenance garage of a hypothetical city.The event challenged all levels of discrete-event simulation (fast and detailed).As Ed Williams, the face-off emcee, said, "The winner is the audience, which has been exposed to a variety of modeling techniques and insights."


Randy Combs, President

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Call for Presentations

Your General Membership Programs chair on the MSUG steering committee eagerly and urgently invites presentation submissions for the general membership meetings on November 8, 2001. Please send one-paragraph summaries to Joe Hugan (contact information at left).

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Attend IIE Simulation Solutions 2001!

Members, recall the rave review the IIE Simulation Solutions Conference of 2000 received from Khaled Mabrouk in the October 2000 Newsletter.Now the 3rd annual "SimSol" conference approaches.It will be held at the Westin Westminster Hotel in Denver, Colorado March 19-21, 2001, with Pre-Conference workshops the preceding Sunday, March 18th.The workshop titles are "Introduction to Simulation" by W. David Kelton, University of Cincinnati; "Supply Chain Management" by George Gates, Transentric Shipment Management Consulting Services; "Simulation + Optimization:How it Works" by Royce Bowden, Mississippi State University; and "Statistics and Distribution Functions:The Essential Mathematics of Simulation Modeling" by Roger Klungle, Ford Motor Company.The conference, chaired by Andre Bergevin of Canada Post, comprises seven tracks:Simulation Skills, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Transportation and Distribution, Supply Chain & Material Handling, Services & Business Processes – and a vendor exhibit area besides!

MSUG is well represented, since Dan Cook is Track Coordinator of the Manufacturing track and Ed Williams is Track Coordinator of the Infomercial Track.

Edward Williams, Senior Technical Specialist, Ford Motor Company

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Winter Simulation Conference Report

Attendance at the 2000 Winter Simulation Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, December 10-13, 2000, was an exciting, instructive experience. The conference comprised special Sunday afternoon tutorials, a Ph.D. colloquium, a poster session, fourteen concurrent tracks (I was a two-time session chair within the Manufacturing Applications track), an exhibit hall, and vendor-user meetings Tuesday evening.Attendance was high -- well over 700.I left cold, sunny Detroit December 9 and returned to a car well-nigh buried under the snowstorms of December 11 and 13 – a sharp contrast to the warm weather in Orlando.

The 2001 Winter Simulation Conference will be held in Arlington, Virginia at the Crystal Gateway Marriott; December 9-12, 2000. More information is available at their web site (actual web address http://www.wintersim.org).

Edward Williams, Senior Technical Specialist, Ford Motor Company

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2001 WITNESS© Simulation Users Association Conference

Witness Simulation Users Association 2001

WSUA presents 2001 SIM ODYSSEY

September 27 & 28, 2001

Westin River North, Chicago

FREE to WITNESS users on maintenance

$99 to WITNESS users without maintenance

The WSUA 2001 Conference is sure to be one of the most profound events in the annals of simulation history, an epic of absolutely monolithic proportions!We’re going to be right in the heart of downtown Chicago, close to all the action — the shops, the museums, the restaurants, the nightlife, and all those strange, whirling lights.So mark your calendar on September 27 and 28 and join us for the ultimate 2001 trip!We’ll leave the pod bay doors open for you.

Explore Chicago!

The WSUA 2001 Conference will be held at the Westin River North in the heart of Chicago.It’s just a few blocks away from some of the best stores, restaurants and museums in the world!We’ve scheduled the conference on a Thursday and Friday so that it’s easy to plan a weekend stay!And the dates for WSUA 2001 also coincide with the World Music Festival in Grant Park!

Help us keep WSUA operating smoothly.

Nominate new people to take over the WSUA Committee... before it’s too late!Call Jerry LoCasale at 954-723-6046 or email epor03@email.mot.com.

We’re hunting for presenters.

Be one of the first 10 people to commit to doing a presentation and win a FREE PRIZE.Email Virginia at vsamuel@lanner.com.

To sign up for WSUA 2001 or to get more information, call Virginia Samuel at 713.532.8008 or email vsamuel@lanner.com.

All are welcome to visit the users site at www.witnessusers.org.

Pete Tiernan, Lanner Group Incorporated

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Help Wanted Adlets

Policy: These help wanted adlets are free to MSUG members, but they do not have "inertia." They must be renewed for each issue via e-mail to the Newsletter editor.

  1. CKGP & Associates seeks simulation, IE, Paint, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing, Conveyor, and CAD expertise. Please submit credentials to:
Karl V. Groth, Senior Project Engineer

CKGP & Associates, a division of RDS
31333 Southfield Road
Beverly Hills, Michigan 48025-5440
Telephone 248-642-7970; fax 248-642-1303 or 248-642-8927
Web site http://www.ckgp.com

RDS web site http://www.rapid.com
Email groth@ckgp.com

  1. Design Systems, Incorporated solicits Simulation, Industrial, Paint, Mechanical, Electrical, Manufacturing, and Conveyor engineering expertise. Please submit credentials to:
Cindy Schiess

38799 West 12 Mile Road, Suite 200
Farmington Hills, MI 48331
Email cschiess@dsi-solutions.com

Web site http://www.dsi-simulation.com

Fax: 248-489-4321

  1. Production Modeling Corporation has openings in the areas of discrete-event and robotics simulation, and Industrial, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering. Please submit credentials to:
Susan Khoubyari

Production Modeling Corporation
3 Parklane Boulevard, Suite 1006W
Dearborn, Michigan 48126
Email susan@pmcorp.com
Fax 313-441-6098
Web site http://www.pmcorp.com

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Position Wanted Adlets

Policy: These position wanted adlets are free to MSUG members, but they do not have "inertia." They must be renewed for each issue via e-mail to the Newsletter editor.

  1. I have some résumés of recent graduates I recommend available.
Edward Williams, 313-592-2374. 

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