AMS 553 / CET 554 / MBA 553 :

Program the following model in SimscriptII.5, submitting an event-oriented version and a process-oriented version.

An automatic packaging machine requires operator intervention periodically for such tasks as clearing jams, re-stocking packaging materials, alignment and maintenance. One operator is capable of servicing several machines, but if a machine needs attention when the operator is busy with another machine, it becomes idle, causing loss in production. On the other hand, if too few machines are assigned to an operator, the cost of operating the machines may be excessive.

The amount of time that the operator spends on a machine which needs attention is exponentially distributed with a mean of 2.5 minutes. When a machine is again operational, it will require operator attention once more after an exponentially-distributed amount of time with mean 20 minutes (the `up' time). Machines that have to wait for operator attention are served in a first-come-first-served order. Assume that, initially, all machines are starting `up' periods (independently sampled for each machine). Make the number of machines in the model a user-fed variable, the value of which is read in from the terminal at model run-time.

Simulate a model for 6 machines and 100 hours, collecting the following statistics :

• The repairman utilization.
  
  
• The average `down' time of the machines (in minutes-per-machine, averaged out over all 6 machines). The `down' time for a machine is defined as the time it spends awaiting and receiving operator attention, once some condition occurs to terminate its `up' time. 
  
  
  

For the more adventurous, experiment with different numbers of machines and / or repairmen to see how the model dynamics vary. For multi-repairmen models, the number of repairmen should also be a user-fed variable.

Hand-in

You should submit your source code using the  electronic hand-in  procedure provided.