Modular development of manufacturing simulation models.

It is common practice within manufacturing companies to create simulation models at different time periods. These models are often used to represent various parts of the manufacturing systems. In general, these pre-built simulation models are required to be integrated together in order to evaluate the entire manufacturing system, this is not a simple task. This research addresses the issues involved in the integration of pre-built simulation models. An in depth literature review was carried out to identify current strategies to overcome these issues. Based on structured research work, a set of recommendations is proposed to ensure easy integration of models. This set of recommendations will help simulation practitioners to minimise the errors occurred during the integration of simulation models. The findings conclude more effort is required than is anticipated by most model builders and involves far more than 'just simply changing' the name of variables. A set of recommendations is therefore proposed to cope with the complexity and understanding of manufacturing systems. The research focuses on manufacturing systems but in general can be applied elsewhere.