ABSTRACT
Production processes are generally one of three types: continuous, intermittent, and job shop. Th e continuous and intermittent systems produce items in mass quantities. In the job shop case, orders mostly are customer tailored, each with diff erent specifi cations. Th e simple nature of mass production systems allows the development of reasonably reliable mathematical techniques that can be used to manage the production resources eff ectively. On the contrary, the lack of repetitiveness in the job shop production process usually results in complex situations that cannot be handled by analytic (mathematical) methods. Th is is where the fl exibility of simulation modeling may be used.
