Simulation of Complex Logistical Service Processes

Abstract

The world around us is a very complex and multi-parametric system, like the weather, traffic, operation of machines, production processes, service processes, etc. Understanding of the characteristics, operation and behaviour of these systems and processes is not easy due to their complexity. The design of optimal production and service procedures is an essential task for planners. The target is the increasing of the efficiency of the production and service and analysis of the effect of parameter changing. There are lot of tools and sophisticated methods for design, analysis and improvement of logistical processes. The most often used analysis tool is the simulation in the production processes. Our aim in this article is to show that the simulation can be used efficiently in case of analysis of service processes, not only in case of production processes. The simulation is available for bottleneck analysis of service activities not only for production processes. In this study the simulation of a service process was realized by the AnyLogic software. The relevance of the simulation technique for analysis of complex service processes is proved by a case study of a service and maintenance activity of a multinational shopping centre.