Computer Simulation as a Tool for Analyzing and Optimizing Real-Life Processes

In some real-life situations, the analysis of complicated systems using standard analytical methods of operational research represents a particularly difficult endeavor, due to the system's complicated structure or the impossibility of reaching a mathematical solution. In cases when we are not able to use the standard methods of operational research, we can use simulation modeling. Sometimes simulation modeling as a tool for supporting practical decision-making offers a possible solution for this problem. The aim of this paper is to characterize briefly the development of discrete-event simulation methodology over the past 50 years on the grounds of the evolution of various simulation programs, describe the essentials of the simulation program tool Simul8 and present, on the basis of a case study, how we can analyze and optimize complicated real-life systems.