Harrell−Ghosh−Bowden: II. Labs 1.

Introduction to ProModel © The McGraw−Hill

Simulation Using 6.0 Companies, 2004
ProModel, Second Edition

L A B

1 INTRODUCTION TO
PROMODEL 6.0

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will
what you imagine and at last you create what you will.
—George Bernard Shaw

ProModel (Production Modeler) by PROMODEL Corporation is a simulation tool

for modeling various manufacturing and service systems. Manufacturing systems
such as job shops, conveyors, transfer lines, mass production, assembly lines, flexi-
ble manufacturing systems, cranes, just-in-time systems, kanban systems, and so
forth can be modeled by ProModel. Service systems such as hospitals, call centers,
warehouse operations, transportation systems, grocery/department stores, informa-
tion systems, customer service management, supply chains, logistic systems, and
other business processes also can be modeled efficiently and quickly with ProModel.
ProModel is a powerful tool in the hands of engineers and managers to test
various alternative designs, ideas, and process maps before actual implementa-
tion. Improvements in existing systems or the design of new systems can be mod-
eled and tested before committing any money, time, or other resources. Various
operating strategies and control alternatives can be compared and analyzed. Typ-
ically, most people use simulation tools to accurately predict and improve system
performance by modeling the actual location (such as a plant floor, a bank lobby,
or an emergency room) or an abstract process. Through testing various what-if
scenarios, one can determine the best (optimum) way to conduct operations.
ProModel concentrates on resource utilization, production capacity, produc-
tivity, inventory levels, bottlenecks, throughput times, and other performance
measures.
ProModel is a discrete event simulator and is intended to model discrete sys-
tems. Also, it is designed to model systems where events happen at definite points
in time. The time resolution is controllable and ranges from 0.01 hours to 0.00001
seconds.

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Harrell−Ghosh−Bowden: II. Labs 1. Introduction to ProModel © The McGraw−Hill
Simulation Using 6.0 Companies, 2004
ProModel, Second Edition

378 Part II Labs

ProModel uses a graphical user interface (GUI). It is a true Windows (XP,

Me, 2000, 98, 95, or NT) based simulation tool and utilizes all the Windows fea-
tures such as a standard user interface, multitasking, built-in printer drivers, and
“point and click” operation. ProModel has an online help system and a trainer.
Background graphics in .BMP, .PCX, .WMF, and .GIF formats can be im-
ported into ProModel. Input data from spreadsheets can be seamlessly read into
ProModel for quick and easy updates. Also, multiple-scenario analysis is possible
using various input data files with the same model. Other model data may be read
from or written to general text files.

L1.1 ProModel 6.0 Opening Screen

ProModel can be installed in one of the following ways:
a. Runtime/evaluation package.
b. Standard package.
c. Student package.
d. Network package.
FIGURE L1.1
ProModel opening screen (student package).
Harrell−Ghosh−Bowden: II. Labs 1. Introduction to ProModel © The McGraw−Hill
Simulation Using 6.0 Companies, 2004
ProModel, Second Edition

Lab 1 Introduction to ProModel 6.0 379

ProModel’s opening screen (student package) is shown in Figure L1.1. There are
six items (buttons) in the opening menu:
1. Open a model: Allows models created earlier to be opened.
2. Install model package: Copies to the specified destination directory all of
the files contained in a model package file.
3. Run demo model: Allows one of several example models packed with
the software to be run.
4. www.promodel.com: Allows the user to connect to the PROMODEL
Corporation home page on the World Wide Web.
5. SimRunner: This new addition to the ProModel product line evaluates
your existing simulation models and performs tests to find better ways
to achieve desired results. A design of experiment methodology is used
in SimRunner. For a detailed description of SimRunner, please refer to
Lab 11.
6. Stat::Fit: This module allows continuous and/or discrete distributions to
be fitted to a set of input data automatically. For a detailed discussion on
the modeling of input data distribution, please refer to Lab 6.

L1.2 Simulation in Decision Making

ProModel is an excellent decision support tool and is used to help plan and
make improvements in many areas of manufacturing and service industries.
Click on Run demo model from the shortcut panel and select any model that
looks interesting to run. You can also use the main menu to select File → Open
and then choose a model from the Demos subdirectory. To run a model, select
Simulation → Run. To stop a simulation prematurely, select Simulation → End
Simulation.

Problem Statement
At a call center for California Cellular, customer service associates are employed
to respond to customer calls and complaints. On average, 10 customers call per
hour. The time between two calls is exponentially distributed with a mean of
six minutes. Responding to each call takes a time that varies from a low of 2 min-
utes to a high of 10 minutes, with a mean of 6 minutes. If the company had a
policy that
a. The average time to respond to a customer call should not be any more
than six minutes, how many customer service associates should be
employed by the company?
b. The maximum number of calls waiting should be no more than five,
how many customer service associates should be employed by the
company?
Harrell−Ghosh−Bowden: II. Labs 1. Introduction to ProModel © The McGraw−Hill
Simulation Using 6.0 Companies, 2004
ProModel, Second Edition

380 Part II Labs

L1.2.1 Average Waiting Time

First we build a simulation model with one customer service associate answering
all customer calls (Figure L1.2). The average time a customer has to wait before
reaching the customer service associate is 18.92 minutes (Figure L1.3). This is a
much longer wait than the company policy of six minutes (average).
If we employ two customer service associates (Figure L1.4), we would like
to figure out what the average wait would be. The average wait drops down to
5.9 minutes (Figure L1.5), which is clearly a much more acceptable result. Hence
the decision recommended to management will be to hire two associates.

FIGURE L1.2
California Cellular with one customer service agent.

FIGURE L1.3
Customer waiting time statistics with one customer service agent.

FIGURE L1.4
California Cellular with two customer service agents.
Harrell−Ghosh−Bowden: II. Labs 1. Introduction to ProModel © The McGraw−Hill
Simulation Using 6.0 Companies, 2004
ProModel, Second Edition

Lab 1 Introduction to ProModel 6.0 381

FIGURE L1.5
Customer waiting time statistics with two customer service agents.

FIGURE L1.6
Number of calls waiting with one customer service agent.

FIGURE L1.7
Number of calls waiting with two customer service agents.

L1.2.2 Maximum Queue Length

Now we want to evaluate the policy of no more than five calls waiting for re-
sponse at any time. First we look at the results (Figure L1.6) of having one cus-
tomer service associate working at a time. The maximum number of customers
waiting for response is 18. This is clearly not an acceptable situation.
If we change the number of associates to two, the results obtained are given
in Figure L1.7. The maximum number of calls waiting is five. This is acceptable
according to the company policy of no more than five calls waiting. When we
graph the number of incoming calls waiting for the duration of the simulation run
of 500 hours (Figure L1.8), there were only three occasions of five calls waiting.
Hence, we recommend to management to hire two associates.
Harrell−Ghosh−Bowden: II. Labs 1. Introduction to ProModel © The McGraw−Hill
Simulation Using 6.0 Companies, 2004
ProModel, Second Edition

382 Part II Labs

FIGURE L1.8
Graph of number of customers waiting versus simulation run time.

L1.3 Exercises
1. How do you open an existing simulation model?
2. What is SimRunner? How can you use it in your simulation analysis?
3. What does the Stat::Fit package do? Do you need it when building a
simulation model?
4. At the most, how many locations, entities, and types of resources can be
modeled using the student version of ProModel?
5. Open the Manufacturing Cost model from the Demos subdirectory and
run the model three different times to find out whether one, two, or three
operators are optimal for minimizing the cost per part (the cost per part is
displayed on the scoreboard during the simulation). Selecting Model
Parameters, you can change the number of operators from the Simulation
menu by double-clicking on the first parameter (number of operators)
and entering 1, 2, or 3. Then select Run from the Model Parameters
dialog. Each simulation will run for 15 hours.
6. Without knowing how the model was constructed, can you give a rational
explanation for the number of operators that resulted in the least cost?
7. Go to the ProModel website on the Internet (www.promodel.com). What
are some of the successful real-world applications of the ProModel
software? Is ProModel applied only to manufacturing problems?