ABSTRACT
About the chapter Using today’s modern programming tools, all it takes to develop a computer simulation of a process or task is a good process chart or flow diagram. Computer simulation is, consequently, becoming an increasingly important approach relied upon by practitioners seeking to improve and better understand tasks and processes followed in manufacturing, health care, and other settings. This chapter begins by introducing forms of computer simulation in which the task or process is simulated entirely on the computer. For example, a computer simulation might describe the process in which inventory moves into and out of a warehouse or the arrival and completion of flying tasks performed by a pilot. This includes a discussion of how computer simulations are developed, modeled, verified, and validated. Examples are also given of how simulation is used by ergonomics practitioners. The chapter then moves to the topic of operator-in-the-loop simulation (OLS). Here, people interact with a computer simulation of the modeled system often referred to as a system simulator.
