Time-Oriented Simulation and Event-Controlled Simulation

Plant Simulation is a discrete, event-controlled simulation program, i.e., it only inspects those points in time, at which events take place within the simulation model.

In reality, on the other hand, time elapses continually. When watching a part move along a conveyor system, you will detect no leaps in time. The curve for the distance covered, and the time it takes to cover it, is continuous, it is a straight line.

A discrete, event-controlled simulation program on the other hand only takes points in time (events) into consideration that are of importance to the further course of the simulation. Such events may, for example, be a part entering a station or leaving it or of it moving on to another machine. Any movements in between are of little interest to the simulation as such. It is only important that the entrance and the exit (Out) events are displayed correctly. When a part enters a material flow object, Plant Simulation computes the time until it exits that object and enters an exit event into the list of scheduled events of the EventController for this point in time.

Thus, the simulation time that the EventController displays, leaps from event to event. This happens as soon as an event is processed.

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