Design and development of a rapid data collection methodology

Most simulation practitioners argue that collection and analysis of input data takes a considerably long time, typically, more than one third of the project time. The analysis of literature and a questionnaire survey conducted at the 1997 Winter Simulation conference identified major reasons which lead to longer data collection time. It appears that most of research undertaken to date has been focused upon statistical data analysis techniques and no or little has been carried out to develop methods to accelerate the collection of input data required in simulation models. This paper presents research work undertaken on input data modelling for the simulation of batch manufacturing systems. It describes the development of a data reference model using IDEFlX data modelling language and a step-by-step approach to identify and collect required data quickly. The purpose of this reference model is to describe the interaction between various data groups relating to items such as parts, resources and some aspects of system logic. This model has been developed and refined using data collected from real industrial situations. The model encapsulates the major entities (data groups) with their attributes and relationships. This model was then translated into a normalised relational database. Having developed the data model, a step-by-step approach was devised to support simulation practitioners. The reference model has been annotated with the sources of real data, so that practitioners could identify the most suitable source of data for their requirements.