Academic articles

Factors including hospital space layout, patient behavior, patient flow, and medical procedures interact and relate to each other, and ultimately affect efficiency and performance of healthcare facilities. And hospital layout planning can’t ignore such interdependencies.

This research integrates discrete event simulation (DES) and agent-based simulation (ABS) to help managers examine, plan, and compare different spatial design schemes through the modeling of patient behavior, patient flow, and the establishment of evaluation indexes.

This paper focuses on optimizing the production of a real-world pre-assembly facility in a high-volume and high-mix semiconductor wafer fab. In simulation software, the researchers built an in-depth, deterministic discrete-event model. With it, they tested release policies in two stages, using real production data and demands.

In Ireland, cheese is one of the most exported products. Due to Brexit, it will be most impacted by delays at ports caused by the potential reintroduction of customs or border controls. To predict forthcoming changes and analyze their impact on the cheese supply chain in Ireland, a simulation model was built. To develop the model, the research team used a combination of the agent-based and discrete event modeling approaches along with geographic information system (GIS) included in AnyLogic simulation software.

This paper presents a comprehensive production scheduling approach that combines optimization and simulation to cope with parameter uncertainty.

The approach allows for identifying and including demand fluctuations and scrap rates. Furthermore, the researchers adapt seven optimization algorithms for two-stage hybrid flow shops with unrelated machines, machine qualifications, and skipping stages with the objective to minimize the makespan. The combination of methods is validated on a real production case of the automobile industry.

Overcrowding in the Emergency Department (ED) is one of the most important issues in healthcare systems. The lack of downstream beds can affect the quality of care for patients who need hospitalization after an ED visit.

This research proposes a generic simulation model as one of the ED overcrowding solutions to analyze patient pathways from the ED to hospital discharge. The model is adaptable for all pathologies and can include several hospitals within a healthcare network. To identify relevant pathways the research team conducts pathway analysis using Process Mining.

Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication that affects eyes. It’s also the leading cause of blindness for working-age Americans. Early detection, timely treatment, and appropriate follow-up care reduce the risk of severe vision loss from DR by 95%. Unfortunately, less than 50% of people with diabetes follow the recommended eye care screening guidelines.

The research team developed a diabetic retinopathy care process model integrating the natural history of diabetic retinopathy with a patient’s interaction with the care system.

The negative effects of traffic, such as air quality problems and road congestion, put a strain on the infrastructure of cities and high-populated areas. A potential measure to reduce these negative effects are grocery home deliveries (e-grocery), which can bundle driving activities and, hence, result in decreased traffic and related emission outputs.

This paper presents an agent-based simulation for logistics network analysis. The model built with a simulation tool assesses the impact of the e-grocery logistics network compared to the stationary one in terms of mileage and different emission outputs.

E-commerce has increased tremendously in recent decades because of improvements in information and telecommunications technology along with changes in social lifestyles. More recently, e-grocery (groceries purchased online) including fresh vegetables and fruit, is gaining importance as the most-efficient delivery system in terms of cost and time.

This paper evaluates the effect of cooperation-based logistics policies, including horizontal cooperation, on service quality among different supermarkets in Pamplona, Spain. For that, the research team applies simulation modeling as a logistics optimization technique.

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, there is a shopping paradigm shift towards e-commerce, which even after the pandemic will not return to the old state. This paradigm shift raises the need for optimal layout and pick paths that result in better performing multi-pick warehouses.

Healthcare is facing great challenges to make processes more efficient and meanwhile provide better service to patients. Management of the intensive care unit (ICU), which is one of the most critical departments in terms of patient status and patient flow, also tries to provide better service and reduce the mortality rate.

During COVID-19, effective and efficient management is of utmost importance. A patient flow model developed in AnyLogic simulation software allows a comprehensive evaluation of eleven different management policies for controlling ICU admissions when facing capacity shortages.