Recent advances in computing have allowed simulation to be used as a source of data in the real-time control of logistics systems such as Material Handling Systems (MHS). For a real-world MHS, in development by Lödige Industries GmbH, Germany, we demonstrate the benefit of generating data offline using a parametrized simulation model that real-time operational control is based on. The data consist of mappings of control situations to optimal actions respectively. Our approach allows for self-adaptation of the simulation by observing current system parameters that are fed into the model. The control automatically triggers regeneration when necessary, detects changes in the system and also proactively anticipates them, resulting in consistently high performance. We furthermore use a simulation-based look-ahead method to consider uncertainties when evaluating alternative actions. Evaluation results show a significant increase in system performance compared to fixed application of a control action and demonstrate the benefits of the self-adaptive properties.

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Today’s simulation software normally has fixed, built-in editing and visualization views adapted to a specific problem domain. Often this monolithic concept prevents collaborative editing altogether. Even with more flexible concepts, editing simulation models with a heterogeneous set of clients is not possible. In this article we describe a flexible concept for collaborative editing of simulation models with heterogeneous clients, such as web-based, desktop and mobile clients. The clients may even show different editing views adapted to the user’s role. The concept we describe in this paper overcomes several problems: First we need to be able to connect and manage a set of heterogeneous clients in the simulation software. The very different user inputs from the connected clients then need to be processed, interpreted and combined to allow editing in a collaborative way for all users. At last we show a prototypical integration of the presented concept into our research platform d3fact.