Opiniones de SIMUL8

We see Simul8 is a collaborator in teaching and research

Comentarios: My experience with Simul8 has been excellent. I was introduced to the software by my PhD supervisor. My PhD was in distributed computing and a research project focussed on distributed simulation. Simul8 provided me with multiple licenses for the Researcher edition of their software and technical support. This helped me better understand the technical aspects of the software, which was necessary for the intended purpose of distributed execution of models. My students have also continued to receive such exceptional support. Several of our received papers have used Simul8!

Puntos a favor:

Simul8 is a versatile discrete-event simulation (DES) software. It has a programming language called Visual Logic (VL). For learning and teaching and the implementation of a wide range of DES projects, the Simul8 visual interface, which supports drag and drop, is sufficient to develop fairly complex models. With VL you can do a lot more! As an educator, I continue using the software to introduce simulation to new cohorts of MSc students in Operations Management and Business Analytics. The students love it! On the research side, the MRes and PhD students I supervised have used Simul8 to develop proof-of-concept models for their Modelling and Simulation research and also full-fledged models to support decision-making. The customer support that we have received over the years is exemplary! This goes to the extent that the Simul8 representatives you meet at conferences are happy to go through the model and provide advice.

Contras:

From the education and teaching perspective, Simul8 is a perfect solution and students will love it! On the research side, if you were to develop integration with other models and modelling paradigms, it would require assistance from Simul8 technical support. With open-source software, integrating libraries and code offers many opportunities, especially for those who know coding. However, with Simul8, some additional integration work to achieve similar objectives may be needed. The software continues to evolve and this may be possible in the near future.

Thank you for your cooperation

Comentarios: Overall experience is simply great, whole support of MA and PhD students for their thesis.

Puntos a favor:

Quite easy to learn and understand the Simul8 environment. At the same time possibility to make advance complex models.

Contras:

Everything was fine, no cons were identified.

Simul8 Review

Puntos a favor:

It has some good features such as importing/exporting data via Excel easily. It provides ready to use simulation results. Visual logic is perfectly helpful for interact the simulation as user wants.

Contras:

The software always hangs while we're using/creating simulations. In addition, due to huge amount of data is imported to the software, it slogs on to process the data. The graphs display poor visualisations.

Powerful tool

Comentarios: A powerful tool for process simulation. While the user interface may appear outdated compared to state-of-the-art options, this doesn’t reflect its robust capabilities. Initial training is essential, and at least 120 hours of practice are necessary to become reasonably proficient in performing reliable simulations of medium complexity

Puntos a favor:

The functionality and capacity to replicate "real life scenarios" .

Contras:

The number of hours required to become proficient with the tool is reasonable. Given the variety of options and scenarios available, the trade-off between output and effort is more than acceptable

Simul8 Review

Comentarios: - active weekly usage for the last 6 years
- the team has done a great job improving the tool recently
- keep adding more and better capabilities
- drop-in sessions are great. keep them going!
- increase the price of the product but don't raise by a lot since it is hard to convince management to keep allocating budget

Puntos a favor:

- ease of use - used to be cheaper than most alternatives (which makes it easier to convince the management to allocate budget for it) - ability to use both coding (Visual Logic) and drag-drop

Contras:

- charts and visualizations - sometimes unexplained bugs happen. rebuilding the model helps - recently raised prices. it is totally ok to raise the prices especially since the product got better recently. but be careful to not raise prices to the level of FlexSim and AnyLogic. In that price category, users might prefer FlexSim/AnyLogic over Simul8

Simul8 - Initial outlook

Comentarios: Very positive. The system is easy to use and the models I have created already (although on the simpler side) have allowed me to identify how to tackle complex problems.

Puntos a favor:

Simul8 is quite an intuitive software where models of processes can be readily made and adequately detailed without prolonged training. The user interface means that the system can quickly be understood and interpreted to complete tasks of increased difficulties.

Contras:

I was using the 2004 version which had little support in creating neat simulation models in the workspace, this often meant I had to spend time to create a clear simulation by dragging boxes and lines. I also found the labelling system not as effective as the codified attribute system in Witness, making it harder to change objects moving through the simulation.

Simulating materialographic processes

Comentarios: Beyond expectations. It is easy to learn the basics and create simple simulations, yet the software has so much depth, there's virtually nothing that can not be built and simulated.
The coaching sessions and all the support offered by Simul8 also helps to fully utilize the possibilities of the software.

Puntos a favor:

Its versatility. We are working in a niche field with a lot of variables, yet we can still utilize Simul8 to its full extent to test real life scenarios.

Contras:

The reporting could be further developed. Not that it is bad as it is, but as it is fully customizable, it takes time to build it. Building blocks or templates would help a lot.

nine out of ten

Comentarios: The course was super helpful to better understand the basic building blocks and all of their options.

Puntos a favor:

simple to build quick simulations but has capability for more complex simulations

Contras:

Some options are quite hidden and are hard to find.

Simul8 User Review

Comentarios: It has been positive, and as I've used it more, you learn just how capable the software is.

Puntos a favor:

The software is very dynamic in terms of the types of problems you can solve with it. You can do a lot with the basic functionalities but the visual logic can open up even further potential.

Contras:

It can be quite difficult to learn by one's self. The online help supplied by Simul8 is good but maybe more in-depth examples would be useful.

Easy to use software

Comentarios: Building models simulating the manufacturing plant environment inculing assembly lines and production models

Puntos a favor:

The user friendly interface and to build the models quickly and intuitively

Contras:

There is actually not a thing that I can say I do not like but maybe there could be flexibilities that two resources can be simultaneously assigned to a product in parallel two sided assembly lines

Logistics simulation review

Puntos a favor:

Can set up effective simulations in which scenarios can be easily altered to show the supply and logistical constraints etc.

Contras:

Navigation within the tool can be slightly difficult, as can designing dashboards on the tool

Appreciate the tool and support, still working on implementation

Comentarios: Excellent. The support I've been receiving is fantastic.

Puntos a favor:

The ability to simulate my complex work process and test the impact of various assumptions.

Contras:

Still finding it difficult to set up processes myself at the level of complexity that I would like. I am an operations manager with a background in process improvement and business analysis, but not able to devote as much time or coding skill to master this as quickly as I would have liked.

Good job with caveats

Comentarios: The simulate training should have included more hands on usage of building a system to use the tools.

Puntos a favor:

The software was really powerful and a lot of functionality built in. The help function included a lot of helpful info.

Contras:

The training would start several minutes late each day. We would be in a TEAMS waiting room with no info as to when or if the meeting would start. The meeting should have started on time each day.

Problem solver a simulation away

Comentarios: As a consulting firm that caters to pharma and medical devices industry, developing and design new custom-made manufacturing facilities were often needed. Simul8 allows us to easily design, validate and optimized plans and improve on strategies. Would definitely recommend to use in any industries!

Puntos a favor:

With Simul8 we were able to develop a usable model that would meet the needs and requirements we have for the pharma and operations industry. We needed to have a system tailor-made to be able to leverage downtimes, equipment and being able to come up with strategies that fulfil stakeholders' requirement.

Contras:

Graphics of model results could need improvements but as software is regularly updated, so there were signs of improvement. Some interface and vocabs used were different than other software, which lead to some confusion but some questions could be solved with their academy contents.

Simul8: engaging, intuitive and interactive simulation modelling

Comentarios: Simul8 allows for simulation models to be developed quickly and efficiently, due to the fact the interface and features are easy to use. My experience using Simul8 live in workshop settings in particular has been valuable - due to the ability to develop the simulations in an interactive and engaging manner. Further, the 1-to-1 coaching that Simul8 provide is brilliant - the coaches are very flexible, engaging and friendly, and really go the extra mile to support your development .

Puntos a favor:

Simul8 delivered the most value through the ability to build complex models with an intuitive and easy to use interface. This ensured that different simulation scenarios could be run quickly and with confidence live in a workshop setting. Various parameters of the simulation can be rapidly flexed, such as resource numbers, shift patterns, process timings, etc. In turn, this allows for simulation modelling to be engaging and interactive, as well as effective in terms of delivering an accurate model with informative and pertinent results.

Contras:

As someone with no prior knowledge or experience in coding, I initially found it a challenge to get to grips with the Visual Logic code. However, after a few hours getting to grips with it, the language is actually quite intuitive, and more similar to excel commands in the way that it is used. Also, there is a sidebar that allows you to search for every command and provides a definition for what the respective command/Visual logic code does.

Introducing Process Simulation to a Tech Company

Comentarios: My exposure to modern process simulation tools began only 4 months ago. I am on a long learning curve mixing my day job with simulation skill development. The support folks at Simul8 have been wonderful helping me understand how their modelling program works, providing solution approaches and code snippets. Further, they have a comprehensive library of on-line documentation. The trick to using their online documentation is knowing which search terms to use. I had no coding or scripting experience before working with Simul8, so it is taking me extra time to learn the simulation and VL coding vocabularies. While the standard interface is very functional – almost simplistic – Simul8 has a rich set to pre-defined object-attribute terms and code snippets. It takes a while to understand where to find what you need. Again, the support team at Simul8 has been wonderful helping me through this period. While I still have a long way to go to moderate proficiency, I know enough now to help jump start other engineers on modelling projects. This, of course, helps them, reinforcing my learnings, and exposes me to a variety of simulation use-cases.

Puntos a favor:

Ready and very capable support, via email and chat. Support is responsive and helpful. They even have a chat button on their "Help" pages. If they are unavailable, you can submit support request and get response in a day if issue is not too complex. Extensive documentation and examples, both in the application and on-line. Simple UI for setting up realistic process flow models and for verifying pieces of the model perform as expected. Excellent value for the money

Contras:

VL Code Dictionary a bit terse, could use links to example uses of the code object and its attributes (object.attribute) Hard to find a complete dictionary of keyboard shortcuts I'm using the desktop version. I have not found a way to manage version control except to save the file often with new names each time. In my early model-development phase, I would break my models frequently, then couldn't remember all the changes I made before it broke.

SIMUL8–A must have tool

Comentarios: We use Simul8 to solve complex problems for our clients in healthcare, manufacturing and service industry.

Puntos a favor:

It’s easy to use. Everything about the software is excellent. Each year there are awesome updates to the software, adding new features to put the power of simulation in the hands of users.

Contras:

There is nothing l do not like about the software.

Simul8 Review

Puntos a favor:

Initially, the product wasn't easy to use, as the variety of features made it hard to remember what each feature could do. However, as I gained in familiarity, the software become really easy to use and navigate around. The varied features allowed discrete event simulation modelling to be done with ease, and include significant levels of detail. The ability to record/ store results in simul8, at a very granular level, and then export them to Excel made the analysis of the model thorough and comprehensive.

Contras:

Lack of available examples of Visual Logic coding online made it hard for me to do my work. I had to use simul8 support, which were very helpful. However, if more information was available online, I think this would benefit the wider community, and release strain on simul8 support.

easy-to-use software that allows you to create simulations with precision, flexibility and speed.

Comentarios: It has been a very useful software in the subject of simulation and Models, especially in the units of simulation of discrete models and in the units of study of tail systems, and events

Puntos a favor:

Easy to use software that allows you to create simulations with precision, flexibility and speed. It allows simulation of events and also allows the creation of scenarios similar to reality, minimizing the risks associated with the administration of processes and projects. in addition, the creation of the simulation is done in the most simple and intuitive way possible, by the use of an explicit interface and the basic but efficient method of "drag-drop" to define the process. The user can run animated simulations very quickly without writing any line of code. And Simul 8 Professional plus all the features of the standard allow Customize the results, graphics and reports to show the KPIs (key performance indicators) that matter. Easily compare scenarios to make informed decisions. Realistic graphics Convert 2D models to 3D simulations with a simple click. Use photos and graphics known by your customers, or download from the large SIMUL8 image library, Optimize: save time and avoid errors using Optquest: it will show you the different scenarios and offer you the optimal solution. Share simulations "Viewer" allows you to share your simulations with clients or associates who do not have the full SIMUL8 license. Even more powerful with "Visual Logic" allows you to add complexities and nuances to your simulation in a way that reflects your real life system and processes. Other interfaces can be connected including Microsoft Excel, VBA, VB, and C ++.

Contras:

Actually, as such, I do not have any disadvantage or feature that is not my taste, I think a very good software

Assessment

Comentarios: My initial 6 months with using and learning the software has been nothing short of exceptional!
The customer support and development team have been incredibly helpful, skilled, and overly available to assist me during my initial learning phase.

Puntos a favor:

Ease of use Sophisticating modeling potential Training resources Sample models 1:1 Model development with knowledgeable developers

Contras:

More updated standard graphics related to my industry - healthcare

For the Student version - from U of T

Comentarios: Overall very good .... especially for simulation which hasd a rap of beeing complicated and hard to understand.. I can get a class of 30 people from a zero knowledge base, to build, test and run a basic simulation in under 40 minutes. that is fast Student experience is almost always very favourable ... some even find it slightly addictive!

Puntos a favor:

Simplicity - visual nature and very Visio like in design and appearance makes it a natural fit with process analysis which for us starts with a Viso Flowchart

Contras:

Use of Inter-arival time at work entry point.. I always find this trips up most people at first .. couldn't we just put another factor such as arrival rate . Secondly adding or deleting lines in results manager is a pain.. I am starting to export to excel more and more

Powerful and intuitive

Comentarios: I used SIMUL8 mainly in the healthcare sector. I may have done in the last 5 years approximately ten projects, big and small. I also use SIMUL8 with my students to teach operations management. SIMUL8 is powerful because it is fast but also because it is intuitive. This makes the results of a simulation easy to explain to customers that are not familiar with simulation.

Puntos a favor:

The pros: The software is intuitive and easy-to-use. It has all the features to simulate complex organizations. I have been using it regularly since 2014. SIMUL8 is constantly being improved and users are involved in setting priorities for new developments. The SIMUL8 team offers excellent support. They have engineers experienced in all types of industries. In the field for which I mainly work (health care), I have always found all the support I needed for my projects. I have tested other simulation software and can confirm that SIMUL8 is powerful, well designed and robust. Its cost (license and maintenance) is very competitive compared to other simulation software.

Contras:

3D animation is not the strength of SIMUL8, but the 3D animation features offered by SIMUL8 are more than enough to test, debug and present the simulation results to customers. 3D animation is not the most important feature of a simulation program. Simulation speed and presentation of results are essential and SIMUL8 is fast and provides results that are easy to manage and interpret.

"What If" analysis beyond Microsoft Excel

Comentarios: We wanted to model our mechanized warehouse investments and thus have started to introduce the value of simulation and so far the feedback from the leadership has been "interesting, very interesting, let's see how we can use this..."

Puntos a favor:

SIMUL8 has enough intuitive configuration based features coupled with visual logic that I spent most of time building the model as opposed to learning the tool. Given how quickly, I was able to setup my model meant that I soon found myself using step through logic features like "work item tracking" to validate the results my model was generating.

Contras:

The share feature is a great way to engage others but the 1 week limit is a bit short - the base default should be longer.

Synamic - Simul8

Comentarios: We're using simul8 as an addition to our consultancy activity so the application differs from customer to customer. But so far we used it as;
- a planning tool for an existing factory.
- bottle neck analysis.
- reviewing factory expension concepts.

Puntos a favor:

It's easy to learn the basics and as soon as you get the hang of it, it's very easy to increase the level of difficulty in your models. Web engine makes it very easy to show at customers. The share functionallity gives our customers the ability to work with the model themselves.

Contras:

It would be a great feature if desktop and web-version acces files from the same cloud based folder.

Simulation for Pre-op Clinic Redesign

Comentarios: Overall it was great and will definitely be using when designing or redesigning hospital space in the future. I'll be moving to a new hospital and leading a team in the new year and will definitely be keeping this software in mind for use there!

Puntos a favor:

My colleague drafted up various designs for remodeling our Pre-op clinic and was able to walk us through the pros and cons in a number of variables like patient wait time, count of patients waiting, anticipated overtime for clinic staff etc. It was great to be able to have this software to simulation redesigns like this. My past simulation experience is with Arena which was clunky in comparison and not as user friendly when setting up simulation designs as seen with my colleagues setup.

Contras:

The reporting functionality was good but it looked like my colleague would have to manually add items to show up on the report as opposed to just providing all the information. This is really if I have to pick one con, it wasn't a big inconvenience.