Implementing ManPy, a Semantic-free Open-source Discrete Event Simulation Package, in a Job Shop

The cost of acquiring commercial simulation packages is considerably high and this might explain why organisations are often reluctant to make further investments on training and retraining of employees on simulation modelling. Ironically, the level of benefit derived from simulation is highly dependent on experimental, analytical and statistical skills of the user. These cost and skill requirements make simulation an unattractive decision support tool to SMEs and small multinational organisations. Proposed in this study is ManPy, a semantic-free open- source approach to discrete event simulation (DES), such that users with different levels of skills can derive considerable benefits from simulation. ManPy eradicates the high investments required for simulation modelling by making it possible for low skilled users to benefit from readily available generic modelling objects which are contributed to an open source platform by highly skilled simulation practitioners, statisticians and academics. Another benefit of ManPy is the ability to integrate with other enterprise planning tools for system knowledge extraction and real time simulation input data. Some of these benefits are demonstrated through the implementation of ManPy in a SME that specialises in rapid prototyping and rapid tooling.