This second edition was written and translated by seasoned simulation professionals. It clearly explains how to use simulation to make better business decisions in application domains from healthcare to heavy manufacturing and everything in between. Modern software makes simulation more useful and accessible than ever and this book illustrates the concepts with Simio, a leader in simulation software.
This book can serve as the primary text in introductory and second courses in simulation at both the undergraduate and beginning-graduate levels. The text or components of it could also support a simulation module of a few weeks within a larger survey course in programs without a stand-alone simulation course (e.g., MBA). It is written in an accessible tutorial-style writing approach centered on specific examples rather than general concepts, and covers a variety of applications including an international flavor. Our experience has shown that these characteristics make the text easier to read and absorb, as well as appealing to students from many different cultural and applications backgrounds.
A first simulation course would probably cover Chapters 1 through 8 thoroughly, and likely Chapters 9 and 10, particularly for upper class or graduate-level students. For a second simulation course, it might work to skip or quickly review all of Part 1 (Chapters 1-4), thoroughly cover all of Part 2 (Chapters 5-10) and use Part 3 as reinforcing assignments.
The extensibility introduced in Chapter 10 could provide some interesting project work for a graduate student with some programming background, as it could be easily linked to other research topics. For a simulation module that's part of a larger survey course, concentrating on Chapters 1, 5, and 6, and then perhaps lightly touch on Chapters 7 and 8 and some of Part 1, as time permits, would be recommended. Supplemental course material is also available on-line.
W. David Kelton is a Professor in the Department of Operations and Business Analytics at the University of Cincinnati, where he also serves as Director of the MS Program in Quantitative Analysis. He received a BA in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MS in mathematics from Ohio University, and MS and PhD degrees in industrial engineering from Wisconsin. He was formerly on the faculty at Penn State, the University of Minnesota, The University of Michigan, and Kent State. Visiting posts have included the Naval Postgraduate School, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, and the Warsaw School of Economics. He is a Fellow of both INFORMS and IIE.
Jeffrey S. Smith is the Joe W. Forehand Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Auburn University and a founding partner of Conflexion, LLC. Prior to his position at Auburn, he was an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at Texas A&M University. In addition to his academic positions, Dr. Smith has held professional engineering positions with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and Philip Morris USA. Dr. Smith has a BS in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University and MS and PhD degrees in Industrial Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. His primary research interests are in manufacturing systems design and analysis, and discrete-event simulation.
David T. Sturrock is Co-founder and Vice-President of Operations for Simio LLC. He is responsible for development, support, and services for Simio LLC simulation and scheduling products. In that role he not only manages new product development, but also teaches frequent commercial courses and manages a variety of consulting projects. He also teaches simulation classes as a Field Faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh. With over 30 years of experience, he has applied simulation techniques in the areas of manufacturing, transportation systems, scheduling, high-speed processing, plant layout, business processes, call centers, capacity analysis, process design, health care, plant commissioning, and real-time control. He received his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from The Pennsylvania State University with concentrations in manufacturing and automation.
