Art of Simulation, Technical Corner

Simulation vs. Spreadsheets for Process Modeling

Sander  /   Jun 23, 2015

There are common reasons against using simulation as a method of process modeling and instead users favor spreadsheet modeling. There are a range of advantages of simulation and many ways to improve accuracy in analysis through the power of simulation…

In this video I talk about the advantages of simulation over spreadsheets over a range of areas including:

  • Variability
  • Resources
  • Animation
  • Pathway Dependencies

When working on simulation in excel, for example, there are limitations – many of which can be addressed using simulation software. In my experience, most of our customers have benefited from the visual aspect of simulation at presentation stage. When demonstrating to stakeholders it is important to be clear and concise and with SIMUL8 we are able to view the process in a more “user-friendly” way. By simply showing a big matrix of data or charts we limit general understanding of the process.

Simulation allows us to communicate changes effectively and can encourage stakeholder buy-in before any changes are made to the real system. Generally, once organizations have witnessed the benefits of simulation modeling they quickly move from spreadsheets to simulation.

Learn more about why simulation could be effective for your organization and download our ebook

About the author

Sander

Sander Vermeulen

Sander has been part of the simulation community for 16 years. During his time at SIMUL8 Corporation he has managed large simulation projects for Fortune 50 companies across a variety of industries including manufacturing, defense, call center and services.