In our normal simulations the number of work items in a simulation object is limited to the capacity of that specific object. In a storage area you can set the capacity to any positive whole number we want and for a work center you can set the replication number.

But what if you want to limit the total number of work items in a number of work centers and storage areas?

For example if you have a straight production line consisting of 4 pairs of storage areas and 4 work centers and you can only deal with 5 work items at any given time in this part of the simulation. How do you set this up?

It’s actually very easy:

First select all the objects in this part of your model and right click within the selected area. Click on ‘Create group’.
(You can find all user defined groups in the Objects\Groups menu or press ctrl+shift+G).

Secondly select the group and click on properties . Now assign a sensible name to your group and tick the box ‘Limit work items in group:’.

Now you need to specify the maximum number of work items that can be in the group at any time.
(In this example there is a group limit of 5 work items, so enter 5 in the field after this option.)

Confirm your changes and you will not have more than 5 work items in the group of 4 work centers and 4 storage areas at any given time in your simulation model.