SIMUL8 Reviews

We see Simul8 is a collaborator in teaching and research

Comments: My experience with Simul8 has been excellent. I was introduced to the software by my PhD supervisor. My PhD was in distributed computing and a research project focussed on distributed simulation. Simul8 provided me with multiple licenses for the Researcher edition of their software and technical support. This helped me better understand the technical aspects of the software, which was necessary for the intended purpose of distributed execution of models. My students have also continued to receive such exceptional support. Several of our received papers have used Simul8!

Pros:

Simul8 is a versatile discrete-event simulation (DES) software. It has a programming language called Visual Logic (VL). For learning and teaching and the implementation of a wide range of DES projects, the Simul8 visual interface, which supports drag and drop, is sufficient to develop fairly complex models. With VL you can do a lot more! As an educator, I continue using the software to introduce simulation to new cohorts of MSc students in Operations Management and Business Analytics. The students love it! On the research side, the MRes and PhD students I supervised have used Simul8 to develop proof-of-concept models for their Modelling and Simulation research and also full-fledged models to support decision-making. The customer support that we have received over the years is exemplary! This goes to the extent that the Simul8 representatives you meet at conferences are happy to go through the model and provide advice.

Cons:

From the education and teaching perspective, Simul8 is a perfect solution and students will love it! On the research side, if you were to develop integration with other models and modelling paradigms, it would require assistance from Simul8 technical support. With open-source software, integrating libraries and code offers many opportunities, especially for those who know coding. However, with Simul8, some additional integration work to achieve similar objectives may be needed. The software continues to evolve and this may be possible in the near future.

Simul8 to sell

Comments: I have worked hard to learn and understand it. Constantly changing what i use and how i use it.

Pros:

Being able to prove to a customer that our conveyor system would work and to show any issues and changes that we would need to make.

Cons:

Moving images and uploading your own small images for the activity icons would be good.

Easy to use software

Comments: Building models simulating the manufacturing plant environment inculing assembly lines and production models

Pros:

The user friendly interface and to build the models quickly and intuitively

Cons:

There is actually not a thing that I can say I do not like but maybe there could be flexibilities that two resources can be simultaneously assigned to a product in parallel two sided assembly lines

Simul8 Review

Pros:

It has some good features such as importing/exporting data via Excel easily. It provides ready to use simulation results. Visual logic is perfectly helpful for interact the simulation as user wants.

Cons:

The software always hangs while we're using/creating simulations. In addition, due to huge amount of data is imported to the software, it slogs on to process the data. The graphs display poor visualisations.

Powerful tool

Comments: A powerful tool for process simulation. While the user interface may appear outdated compared to state-of-the-art options, this doesn’t reflect its robust capabilities. Initial training is essential, and at least 120 hours of practice are necessary to become reasonably proficient in performing reliable simulations of medium complexity

Pros:

The functionality and capacity to replicate "real life scenarios" .

Cons:

The number of hours required to become proficient with the tool is reasonable. Given the variety of options and scenarios available, the trade-off between output and effort is more than acceptable

Simul8 - Initial outlook

Comments: Very positive. The system is easy to use and the models I have created already (although on the simpler side) have allowed me to identify how to tackle complex problems.

Pros:

Simul8 is quite an intuitive software where models of processes can be readily made and adequately detailed without prolonged training. The user interface means that the system can quickly be understood and interpreted to complete tasks of increased difficulties.

Cons:

I was using the 2004 version which had little support in creating neat simulation models in the workspace, this often meant I had to spend time to create a clear simulation by dragging boxes and lines. I also found the labelling system not as effective as the codified attribute system in Witness, making it harder to change objects moving through the simulation.

Simul8 Review

Comments: - active weekly usage for the last 6 years
- the team has done a great job improving the tool recently
- keep adding more and better capabilities
- drop-in sessions are great. keep them going!
- increase the price of the product but don't raise by a lot since it is hard to convince management to keep allocating budget

Pros:

- ease of use - used to be cheaper than most alternatives (which makes it easier to convince the management to allocate budget for it) - ability to use both coding (Visual Logic) and drag-drop

Cons:

- charts and visualizations - sometimes unexplained bugs happen. rebuilding the model helps - recently raised prices. it is totally ok to raise the prices especially since the product got better recently. but be careful to not raise prices to the level of FlexSim and AnyLogic. In that price category, users might prefer FlexSim/AnyLogic over Simul8

Simulating materialographic processes

Comments: Beyond expectations. It is easy to learn the basics and create simple simulations, yet the software has so much depth, there's virtually nothing that can not be built and simulated.
The coaching sessions and all the support offered by Simul8 also helps to fully utilize the possibilities of the software.

Pros:

Its versatility. We are working in a niche field with a lot of variables, yet we can still utilize Simul8 to its full extent to test real life scenarios.

Cons:

The reporting could be further developed. Not that it is bad as it is, but as it is fully customizable, it takes time to build it. Building blocks or templates would help a lot.

nine out of ten

Comments: The course was super helpful to better understand the basic building blocks and all of their options.

Pros:

simple to build quick simulations but has capability for more complex simulations

Cons:

Some options are quite hidden and are hard to find.

An Ode to Simul8

Comments: Completely happy. Blown away by the capabilities. Looking forward to further my project with the team.

Pros:

Simul8 is the first simulation application I've used in my career and just wow! I'm completely blown out of the water. While still being in the early stages of production, this program has already solved multiple headaches.

Cons:

My one and only gripe, I wish simul8 would auto update itself.

Appreciate the tool and support, still working on implementation

Comments: Excellent. The support I've been receiving is fantastic.

Pros:

The ability to simulate my complex work process and test the impact of various assumptions.

Cons:

Still finding it difficult to set up processes myself at the level of complexity that I would like. I am an operations manager with a background in process improvement and business analysis, but not able to devote as much time or coding skill to master this as quickly as I would have liked.

SIMUL7 Review

Comments: My overall experience with this software is excellent. it helps me to improve my skills and knowledge of the work.

Pros:

The learning curve is low. All of the modeling choices are standard and simple to explain to executives. Once you've got your simulation running well, you can go really fancy with it thanks to the scripting language.

Cons:

The lagging of time and simulation is the least point about the software.

SIMUL8 for healthcare use

Comments: The tool is great for modeling and addressing process throughput and constraint troubleshooting and forecasting. The SIMUL8 support team is also responsive and knowledgable.

Pros:

Creating initial models in SIMUL8 is very easy - like Visio on steroids. Once we got the flow parameters of the processes we were simulating, the current state model was built in hours, not days or weeks. Doing what-if adjustments and scenarios in cycle times etc to test future state is relatively easy. The model scenarios show 2 critical things very quickly; the points of constraint in the process, and the ability to meet end to end process throughput goals.

Cons:

Would be great if the multiple scenario adjustments for future state modeling & results could be tried and recorded in more rapid fire/automated fashion. That would allow for quicker optimizing of future process throughput/cost etc. Another helpful tool enhancement would be to install SIMUL8 on top of current enterprise software platforms (ie. SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, etc) to monitor and record activity timing that would auto-create the current state SIMUL8 model. This is very sophisticated, I realize.

HND Manufacturing Engineering class

Comments: Extremely satisfying, I believe more organisations should be using Simul8. Students taught loved it, enjoyed the classes and spoke of trying to introduce current and future employers to Simul8

Pros:

Extremely user friendly. Students spent time using it and barely needed to refer to my guidance and notes. They picked it up in their own way very quickly and competently.

Cons:

Students did not use the graphics options much which could've enhanced the aesthetics of their models. This does not necessarily mean they graphics options need improved but perhaps they were not attracted to use them as they didn't look appealing (they're used to photo type gaming graphics)

Best Simulation product in the market!

Comments: I have had many years using Simul8 in Industry, consulting, and it University Classroom. This tool fits in too many ways to point them out in a brief review

Pros:

Ease of use and provides so much professionalism in presentation

Cons:

The robust features of Simul8 cover 100% of my needs.

New User Experience

Comments: Great experience, the support team is great! My problems were addressed quickly and effectively.

Pros:

I enjoy the quality of support received from Simul8 team. The team is able to help you identify your needs for software version. It has the ability to take into account the complexities present in health care system, by using visual logic.

Cons:

Having templates for processes will help newer user learn the capabilities and limitations of the software quicker. For example if the software is applied to health care systems, templates of real life scenarios/problems where Simul8 was used would be very helpful. I recognize there are instructional videos on YouTube but having built-in template would be very helpful.

SIMUL8 Initial Review

Comments: Overall, using SIMUL8 to build trial simulations has been great and very easy to use. Learning the basics is easy, especially if you have previous knowledge of the foundations of discrete event simulations. Although I shared criticisms of the 'availability' of information for more complex modelling, I would like to comment that this is addressed by the level of responsiveness and support provided by SIMUL8 after purchase.
When I had 'what if' questions with SIMUL8 or if I was looking to see if a particular modelling characteristic is possible, their help email is responsive (usually less than a day to respond) and detailed. They will work with you on recommendations on specific aspects of your simulations that you may have a question on. There are also forums that they provide for their users such as drop-in sessions where examples are shared by their consultants, which usually includes a question and answer period. Of course, their support team isn't going to build your simulations for you, but having a post-purchase support team that is able to answer complex questions through multiple forums (emails, drop in sessions) is extremely valuable.

Pros:

Although SIMUL8 has not been used in a formal project, I will comment on the positives of the solution in the context of building trial simulations of areas in a healthcare setting. Previously, I built basic queuing model through spreadsheets. This was time consuming and limited to the basic pathways. In addition, it was difficult to build pathways which required resources or loops. It was night and day going from so much manual work to SIMUL8. From my experience, SIMUL8 has made building straight forward simulations, assigning resources and timing very easy. I would estimate multi stage queuing models now take me an hour to build, whereas formulation on a spreadsheet would have taken multiple days. Most of the software for simple modelling is quite intuitive - especially the basic building blocks. The other aspect that I enjoy with SIMUL8 is the built in statistical distribution tests through STAT:FIT. A major component of discrete event simulation is data availability and identification of the best distributions. Having built it into SIMUL8 makes it seamless to import data, test for best distribution, and enter the information into SIMUL8. The last aspect I would like to comment on as it relates to SIMUL8 isn't actually related to the software itself; rather the post-purchase support provided by the SIMUL8 team. As someone fairly new to using discrete event simulation software, I appreciate the responsiveness and detail provided by the help team to my questions.

Cons:

Most of the 'downsides' of the software I found isn't with the software itself, but the availability of information for new users. It would be helpful if the software came with a formal user manual or document. Although new users have access to SIMUL8 academy, the courseware does not cover all basic topics, so one would have to actively look for the information online on the SIMUL8 website. There is also minimal information or examples that is readily available around modelling more complex scenarios when one is more comfortable with SIMUL8. This information may or may not be on the SIMUL8 website. An example is the use of job matrix when resources aren't limited to one work stations or activity. This is a common occurrence in healthcare so having this taught as part of SIMUL8 academy would have been helpful.

Michael M's Simul8 Review

Comments: Trying to upskill new starters in Discrete Event Simulation. The training has been good so far

Pros:

The training packages and support structures that Simul8 has

Cons:

Object replication is difficult to understand. Block inheritance could be a useful feature (parent child dynamic, where if a change is made to the parent, the child has the same change made to it)

Simul8 Review

Pros:

Initially, the product wasn't easy to use, as the variety of features made it hard to remember what each feature could do. However, as I gained in familiarity, the software become really easy to use and navigate around. The varied features allowed discrete event simulation modelling to be done with ease, and include significant levels of detail. The ability to record/ store results in simul8, at a very granular level, and then export them to Excel made the analysis of the model thorough and comprehensive.

Cons:

Lack of available examples of Visual Logic coding online made it hard for me to do my work. I had to use simul8 support, which were very helpful. However, if more information was available online, I think this would benefit the wider community, and release strain on simul8 support.

Factory Simulation

Comments: We provide operational optimisation consulting and contracting to mainly engineering and operational department, developing and design new manufacturing facilities. Simul8 allows us to validating, optimising and communicating design plans.

Pros:

The software has a fairly linear learning curve so you can make simple models early and can progressively develop your skills to make more and more complex models. They also have great customer service with real technical expertise so you are never stuck on a problem for long.

Cons:

The skin and icon packs could do with a makeover and the animation functions overhauled.

SIMUL8 for Manufacturing Applications

Comments: Having over 24 years in the simulation field, I have used several different simulation packages. SIMUL8 has surfaced at the top of the list for several reasons: Low cost per seat, Ease of learning the tool, Power & Functionality of basic simulation objects, Ease of data import/export, Ease of analyzing results. SIMUL8 has proven to meet typical manufacturing design objectives such as:
1) Bottleneck Analysis and applying "Theory of Constraints" to designing and improving manufacturing operations.
2) Determining the optimal number of carriers within a material handling system (i.e. Power & Free, Electric Monorail, etc)
3) Determining optimal operator & resource utilization; including operating patterns & shift patterns.
4) Optimizing mixed model assembly lines; including scheduling and sequencing objectives. I have learned staying with proven basic simulation objects works best when building models. SIMUL8's "Visual Logic" contains enough commands and logical constructs to capture coding conditional events throughout complex areas within the process. Basically, learning how to apply basic "IF-Then" statements in conjunction with commands is all it takes to tap into its power. Cons: Limited graphics & annotation, Save often as model can lock-up, Operator Travel Links can become corrupt. Good point is with time... you can usually find work-around's to avoid some of the listed shortfalls.

Pros:

I stay with the basic simulation building blocks and design and implement complex manufacturing designs.

Cons:

Annotation and screen graphics are lacking. Operator travel links can become corrupt.

Great Software and Customer Support

Comments: Have used Simul8 on a variety of projects ranging on different sectors. The main goal has always been to optimize the process and improve the KPI's that we are attacking.

Pros:

I like the software because it's easy to use on a basic level and you can unlock the next level with more complicated tools and functions, the support team is amazing available for any questions you might have and always ready to help.

Cons:

The webpage software lags when using, the app is way better. Reporting results has a basic view can be more advanced.

Discrete Event Simulation in Civil Service - very helpful

Comments: Very helpful for facilitating Discreet Event Simulation Modelling, particularly for sharing with stakeholders. Sometimes a little slow and glitches do seem to appear, although this could just be me.

Pros:

Ability to label work items and visually show how they move through a system. Incredibly helpful Customer Service from [SENSITIVE CONTENT] following a bootcamp.

Cons:

Slow to extract raw data from and glitches.

Synamic - Simul8

Comments: We're using simul8 as an addition to our consultancy activity so the application differs from customer to customer. But so far we used it as;
- a planning tool for an existing factory.
- bottle neck analysis.
- reviewing factory expension concepts.

Pros:

It's easy to learn the basics and as soon as you get the hang of it, it's very easy to increase the level of difficulty in your models. Web engine makes it very easy to show at customers. The share functionallity gives our customers the ability to work with the model themselves.

Cons:

It would be a great feature if desktop and web-version acces files from the same cloud based folder.

Good for teaching simulation.

Pros:

I use Simul8 as part of teaching students about Discrete Event Simulation. Simul8 is easy to use, shows all of the basics of simulation modelling, and can model a wide range of scenarios. My students seemed to enjoy using it and generally found it easy to use and the support on the website adequate to expand their skills and build relatively complex models. The support team were also very helpful to me when developing my course.

Cons:

The educational version doesn't have all of the functionality of some of the other simulation products. One of the downsides of Simul8 doing most of the analysis for you is that if you want students to do things themselves, then you sometimes need a bit of extra work, which is not always easy within fairly short workshops. A very minor point is that the MORE plots produced do not have confidence intervals on the quantile estimates.