FROM GERMANY: SIMULATION OF A MACHINE SHOP WITH GPSS.

The article focuses on simulation of a machine shop with general purpose simulation system (GPSS). In the machine shop in question, each machine produces a single product and no two machines produce the same product, at any one time. The machining operation is initiated by hand but terminated automatically. At its termination, a lamp indicates that the machine requires attention from an operator. Production management has relied for a long time past on information obtained from bar charts of machine utilization as a help in answering the above questions. The development of the program in the above form has been completed and the program is in routine use. Changes in the manufacturing process e.g. the fitting of magazines to the machines, entail program development work, which however normally affects only small parts of the program. Such changes are undertaken on demand. changes are undertaken on demand. The printed bar charts form a completely satisfactory substitute for the hand-drawn charts formerly used and can be much more rapidly prepared, and the values of machine utilization and operator loading form valuable supplementary information.