Simulation consultants
Simulation modeling services for lines, plants and supply chains
We build a model of your operation and use it to answer one question: what would happen if you changed it? Buffers, line speeds, staffing, capacity, inventory. You see the result before you change anything.
Four places a model pays for itself
We have built simulation models for manufacturers and shippers for more than 35 years. Most of the work falls into these areas.
- Production lines
Find the real bottleneck, even when it moves with the product mix. Test capital, scheduling and staffing changes first.
- Packaging lines
High-speed filling and packing: buffer and conveyor sizes, line speeds, downtime and changeovers.
- Supply chains
Run length, safety stock, deployment and ordering policies, tested on months of operation in minutes.
- Logistics and warehouses
Vehicle networks, automated warehouses and resupply systems, sized and scheduled before they are built.
The three calls we get most
Much of our work starts with a model that already exists and isn't doing its job.
"We inherited a model nobody understands."
We read it, map its logic and data, check it against the line, and tell you whether to trust it.
"It takes hours to run."
We find where the time goes and take it out. One model went from 6 hours to 20 minutes.
"The tool can't do what we need."
When a problem outgrows the package, we build a bespoke model with the same logic, validated, and without the limits.
We pick the tool after we understand the question
We don't sell software, so we have no reason to push one package. A rate-based model suits a high-speed packaging line. A detailed discrete event model with 3D animation suits a plant team that needs to see the layout move. A supply chain question may need a custom engine that runs a year of history in minutes.
We have deep roots in three tools and we work in whatever your team already runs:
- ExtendSim®: 35+ years of projects, and the bulk flow (rate) and database libraries we built for it.
- Plant Simulation: 15+ years and more than 50 models of lines, plants, warehouses and supply chains.
- ReliaSim®: 5+ years on client lines, for stops, buffers and OEE, validated within 1% of measured OEE.
- Custom code: when a model outgrows its tool, we rebuild it in .NET, C# or F# so it runs fast and planners can use it.
Models that answered a real question
A food plant, a chemical packager and a vehicle distribution network. Each one had money riding on the answer.
Olive plant capacity: 15% more throughput
Finding the real bottlenecks in an olive plant, and 15% more throughput from scheduling.
15% throughput improvement
Chemical bagging lines: capacity vs. overtime
Weighing new bagging lines against overtime, and finding low-capital room to grow.
VINLogic: $21.7M saved in vehicle distribution
Forecasting a 2.5M-vehicle rail network: $21.7M saved and transit time cut 19%.
$21.7M inventory carrying costs savedMore on this work: how a project runs, from naming the decision to keeping the model in use, and why clients pick SDI, with what they said after the model ran and the industries we work in.
Tell us your problem
What would happen if you changed it?
Describe the decision in front of you. We'll tell you whether a model can answer it, and what it would take.
- A straight answer on whether simulation is the right tool
- Which tool fits, even if it isn't one we use every day
- A rough scope and timeline, before any commitment