SAT Simulation-based Complexity Management with Simio® for Executive Decision Support

(January 2010) There can not be any doubt that with the collapse of the USSR in 1989, with the events of 9/11 and the global finance and economic crisis in 2008, our world has finally entered an epochal transformation process within an emerging age of global connectivity. Some say that we are trying to navigate through the most fundamental transformation process of human mankind. History seems to have bounced back into its normal mode, a mode governed by risk, uncertainty and non-linear dynamics. As can be easily shown, phases of overwhelming instability and turbulence are at the same time phases of highest sensitivity – for sustainable change and shift in worldview.

What up til now seemed only to be the activity of an intellectual elite or scientists, the holistic worldview and the science of complexity, has now been taken up by the business elites and political decision makers. For example, the Executive Summary of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009 in Davos states: „(...) Complexity and interdependency are not only characteristics of globalization but are also at the root of a systemic crisis. Therefore, future solutions will need to be developed in a holistic and interdisciplinary way to ensure that the concerns of all stakeholders are addressed and a broad-based backlash is avoided. (...) And to this end, the Annual Meeting 2009 will be organized under the theme „Shaping the Post-Crisis World“ within the objective to catalyse a holistic and systematic approach to improve the state of the world in a manner that integrates all stakeholders of global society.“ And in the Annual Meeting 2010 with the title Improve the State of the World: Retink, Redesign Rebuild – The Transformation Continues it is stated: „The financial crisis of 2008 and the „Great Recession“ of 2009 raise tough questions about the future of the global economy. However, they also provide insights into economic interdependencies, governance gaps and systemic risks intrinsic to globalization. These revelations in turn compel us to rethink business models, financial innovation and risk management“.

It can be argued today that all the safety and recovery actions of governments worldwide and of the Federal Reserve banks were right and timely, however, in a complex and connected world they might not be more than the rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic – in a time of crisis they all lacked a fundamental paradigm, the holistic and systemic worldview as well as the appropriate tools to manage complexity. In the meantime it is claimed that the academic economists did not anticipate the global crisis – a claim that is obviously true since they still live with a view of markets that is not appropriate for our time. We painfully learn today that open markets are not semi-static systems in the vicinity of equilibrium, but complex adaptive systems in the sense that micromotives of market participants strongly determine macrobehaviour of an economy. The finance and global economic crisis owes its existence to the fact that the challenges of the 21st century were met with the worldview and methodologies of the 19th century. A mechanistic-newtonian worldview, the clock-world, based on determinism, causality, reductionism, static thinking, and gaussian distributions, - although it has worked well in the last 300 years - can not deal with the emerging dynamics of the age of global connectivity whose structural elements embrace non-linearity, evolution, emergence, adaption, interrelatedness, interconnectedness and Black Swans – Everything is connected to Everything: hen kai pan, this insight of the Greek ancient world has today suddenly reappeared.

A new way of thinking, a vision, is therefore needed, especially for the decision makers in business and politics – and the tools incorporating this new thinking are already available. The Gartner Group has just released a study regarding Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2010 and has identified simulation and optimization as the leading trend, together with cloud computing. This trend finds an appropriate spearhead in a new method SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG is bringing to the market, a method coined SAT Simulation-based Complexity Management. This method allows for immediate executive decision support with regards to strategic, tactical, and operational issues that an enterprise today faces in today’s era of risk, uncertainty, and volatility.

Our new method SAT Simulation-based Complexity Management is structured according to the following three steps:

• Complexity-Audit and Assessment within the enterprise
• then – depending on the task – modelling will be done with simulation techniques such as Discrete Event Simulation (DES), Agent-based Modeling (ABM) and System Dynamics (SD), also integrating optimization methods and algorithms such as Constraint Programming, Mathematical Programming, Local Search etc
• and finally the embedding of the model into the culture of the enterprise for daily decision support and holistic change management.

Simio® with its game-changing approach to simulation is the next-generation tool to successfully sustain our voyage into an era of holistic thinking. SAT Simulation-based Complexity Management delivers simulation and optimisation solutions contributing to strategic, tactical and operational performance improvements. Complex-dynamic systems can be efficiently analyzed and their behaviour and interactions can be varied and explored in silico. Business leaders can now, for example, model entire business organizations creating full-scale virtual laboratories in which to test their organizations and markets and try strategies “offline” before exposing themselves to the risks of a competitive market place. To cope with today's complex business problems, executives need to strive not to predict and control, but to understand and adapt.

The consequences of a new way of thinking, namely a thinking in holistic terms, has been described by quantum physicist and complexity scientist Heinz Pagels, who wrote in 1988: „I am convinced that the nations and people who master the new science of complexity will become the economic, cultural and political superpowers of the next century“.

For questions and technical details please contact info@sat-ag.com.

Dynadec and SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG Announce New Strategic Partnership

(January 2010) – Dynadec, developer of next-generation optimization technology, today announced that it has entered into a partnership with Germany-based SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG (SAT AG), a leading consulting organization focused on simulation-based complexity management. Dynadec, spun out of Brown University’s acclaimed Optimization Laboratory, was founded by Prof. Pascal Van Hentenryck in 2007. Prof. Van Hentenryck is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading optimization experts, as well as the founding father of constraint programming in the 1990s.

Dynadec develops optimization solutions based upon its patented software platform, COMETTM. The company, which has offices in Providence, RI and Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, prides itself on combining it’s award winning platform, with world class operations research expertise. The world’s most comprehensive software platform for solving complex optimization problems, COMETTM combines multiple optimization technologies into a single, integrated development environment. COMETTM based solutions solve complex operational problems in a wide array of areas including dynamic logistics, workforce scheduling and planning, and supply chain optimization.

SAT AG prides itself on making its customers more competitive by providing the systematic application of the most advanced simulation and optimization technologies for executive decision support in all industrial areas. The company’s deep expertise in this critical area, when combined with the award winning COMETTM platform from Dynadec, create a unique opportunity for customers to benefit from the combined power of optimization and simulation.

„We are excited by the possibilities presented by our new arrangement with SAT AG”, said Pascal Van Hentenryck, Dynadec’s founder and CEO.
„It is clear that today’s dynamic enterprises can generate significant operating leverage by combining simulation with optimization. SAT AG has a strong track record delivering value to its customers, and we look forward to working with them as they continue to implement simulation-based optimization tools for their customers.”

Dr. Thomas Arzt, SAT AG’s CEO said: „We have tremendous respect for the team and technology at Dynadec. Solutions based upon the COMETTM platform give organizations the ability to improve decision-making under uncertainty and volatility, which is something revolutionary in the field of optimization. We believe this highly differentiated approach represents a tremendous opportunity for our customers to generate significant cost savings and game changing results as the core engine of our methodology SAT Simulation-based Complexity Management.”

About SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG
SAT Simulations- und Automation-Technologie AG, headquartered in Freiburg, Germany, is a worldwide operating simulation and optimization consulting company dedicated to the systematic application of Discrete Event Simulation, System Dynamics, Agent-Based Modeling, and optimization techniques.

About Dynadec
Dynadec develops next-generation business decision optimization solutions that help enterprises solve their most challenging and complex operational problems. Dynadec’s hybrid optimization solutions for workforce planning and scheduling, production planning and scheduling, and supply chain optimization are based on the company’s COMETTM platform, which includes patent-pending dynamic stochastic combinatorial optimization algorithms developed by world-renowned optimization expert Pascal Van Hentenryck, Dynadec’s founder. COMETTMenabled solutions are used by enterprises in a variety of industries including Retail, Transportation, Aerospace & Defense, Healthcare and Energy. For more information, visit www.dynadec.com.

For questions and technical details please contact info@sat-ag.com. An english version of this press release can be downloaded here.
Please download a brochure about COMETTM.

SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG becomes Master Representative Partner for the new multi-paradigm Simulator Simio® in Germany

(January 2010) Effective January 1st, SAT Simulations- und Automations- Technologie AG is the Master Representative Partner of Simio LLC (Pittsburgh, USA) for Germany. Simio LLC is the inventor and producer of the new ground-breaking multi-paradigm simulator Simio®. Simio® is based on the revolutionary approach of intelligent objects and its engine integrates simulation techniques such as discrete event simulation, agent-based modeling, and System Dynamics. Additionally, Simio® supports all issues related to scheduling tasks.

„In nowaday’s financial and economic crisis it is absolutely fundamental that we have Simio® available as a simulation tool that can be efficiently applied in such diverse fields such as factory and supply chain optimization, markets as complex-adaptive systems or portfolio simulation as well as socioeconomical topics. We are happy to have Simio® as a powerful core engine of our method SAT Simulation-based Complexity Management. With its unique approach Simio® provides exactly the appropriate technique which, combined with optimization technologies of Operations Research, supports holistic thinking and, therefore, give the executive level an outstanding navigation tool at hand“, says Dr. Thomas Arzt, CEO and President of SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG.

The Founder and CEO of Simio LLC, Dr. Dennis Pegden, acknowledges the new partnership by saying: „SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG has a high reputation as a globally leading simulation and optimization company. With their new method SAT Simulation-based Complexity Management they open up new paths in times of high risk and uncertainty for enterprises. We at Simio LLC are honored that our simulation technology will drive this method as the core engine“. Simio® simulation software is an intuitive, object oriented, multi-paradigm software delivered by Simio LLC. Simio® is created by a team of experienced simulation software developers led by Dr. Dennis Pegden, former founder and CEO of Systems Modeling Corporation. The recently released Simio® software is built on the latest .NET technology from Microsoft and has built-in integration with Google 3D Warehouse. Simio® is extremely powerful for advanced simulation model builders and yet intuitive and easy to use.

The areas of application of Simio® are manufacturing, scheduling, layout planning, healthcare and hospitals, airports, military and defense, business process and strategy analysis, market dynamics, portfolio and asset optimization, transportation and supply chain, new product development, urban and population dynamics, electric power grids, computer and telecom networks, call centers, logistics, distribution and warehousing, pedestrian and vehicle movement, emergency and evacuation planning, complex adaptive systems, sociology, economics, biological and ecological phenomena.

For questions and technical details please contact info@sat-ag.com. A brochure with regards to Simio® can be downloaded here. To visit the Simio® webpage please click www.simio.biz.

Download Arena® 12 Evaluation Software

(March 2009) In the Download Area of the SAT AG Homepage you will find a link to a link to a free Arena® 12.0 Trial Version.
This Trial Version includes almost all features of a Arena® Professional Edition, but is restricted in the number of modules and entities per model.
The Template Development is not included in the Trial Version.

SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie-AG Member of the EU-Consortium for the EU-sponsored Project Vision for Innovative Transport (VIT)

(October 2008) As to June 1st, 2008, SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG is a member of the EU-Consortium for the EU-sponsored Project Vision in Innovative Transport (VIT) . The VIT project is about the development of computer vision technologies for an innovative system for intermodal shipment of containers and swap bodies called Metrocargo. This system will setup a network of terminals distributed in the territory connected by scheduled freight trains. Containers will be transferred from one train to another as for passenger traffic. Loading will be done horizontally under the electric feeding line, without shunting the train to a load yard with diesel traction. The time required to load a train will be 40 minutes instead of the curent 8-12 hours. It is forseen that 10% of the current long distance road traffic can be transferred to rail with comparable delivery time and lower costs. The modules developed within VIT will be integrated in Metrocargo. Computer vision is the key technology enabling the design and implementation of comprehensive SW modules covering automation, safety, and security. A high degree of automation guarantees the processing speed that makes the loading system practically viable and economic sound. In addition, VIT will ensure human safety when human presence is detected in dangerous areas and security of the infrastructure. All processes describing arrival of containers, load/unload, movement to a buffer zone, as well as automation- and security issues will be set up in a simulation model to support design, operational and saftey issues and risk assessment - a task conducted by SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG. The VIT-Project will run run to December 31st, 2009. Other members of the EU-Consortium are:

• ILOG Iniziative Logistiche, Italy
• Molinari Rail AG, Switzerland
• Witt Industrielektronik GmbH, Germany
• Systems Navigator, The Netherlands
• University of Genova, Italy
• Speed Poland, Poland
• IMAVIS, Italy
• University of Dundee, Scotland

Changes in the SAT AG Advisory Board

(July 2008) On July the 15th 2008, Mr. Helmut Scheibenzuber has left the Advisory Board of the Simulations- und Automations- Technologie AG, Freiburg, for personal reasons. New elected Head of the Advisory Board is Professor Dr. Erhard Meyer-Galow.

SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG establishs a new Business Unit for System Dynamics and Agent-Based Simulation Technologies

(January 2008) In addition to our established business units, which primarily work with Discrete Event Simulation engines, SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG is opening up a new business unit that will provide simulation tools and expertise for System Dynamics and Agent-Based Modeling. System Dynamics (SD), as well established a method as Discete Event Simulation (DES), was developed by Jay W. Forrester of the Sloan School of Management at MIT and also provides a framework for the holistic analysis and simulation of complex dynamic systems. In comparison to Discrete Event Simulation, which is focused on material flow systems, Systems Dynamics aims primarily on socio-economic problems such as market and strategy simulation, risk assessment, corporate planning and policy design. Also, dynamic systems from areas such as ecology, population dynamics, medicine and biology can be efficiently modeled. Agent-Based modeling (ABM) focuses an the activities and interactions of autonomous individuals (agents) within a system, to then assess their effects on the system as a whole. Examples of applications include social networks, population dynamics, consumer, market, and competition analysis, portfolio management as well as the spread of epidemics. The integration of Discrete Event Simulation, System Dynamics, and Agent-Based Modeling opens up a new horizon for the holistic modeling and optimization of complex-dynamic systems. Economy in a globalized world is higly competitive and dynamic, the the level of market dynamics and corporate strategy, for example, interacts with the level of supply chain and factories, both levels also interact with the level of individual consumer behaviour. A simulation model which encompasses all three levels provides an analysis and decision support tool, that in the future no company can afford to do without. For further information contact info@sat-ag.com.

BAE Systems and SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG uses Arena® to model nationwide Supply Chain für NASA’s next Generation Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

(July 2007) In a joint effort with BAE Sytems in Huntsville, Alabama, USA, SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG are using Arena® to model the nationwide supply chain network for Ares I, NASA’s next Generation Crew Launch Vehicle. The supply chain consist of all factories and material flows, that will be delivered just in time prior to a launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Within this simulation model the number of launches are kept variable and embrace a time horizon ranging from 2012 to 2018. The decision for Arena® was due to the fact that NASA is already an extensive user of Arena® in their supply chain analysis for the actual Space Shuttle Program.

for example, please refer to this link

Arena® wins Evaluation-Process of Discrete Event Simulators at Müller - Die lila Logistik Deutschland AG

(July 2007) SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG wins the evaluation process of Discrete Event Simulators at Müller - Die lila Logistik Deutschland AG in Besigheim, Germany. The Decision for Arena® was based on its universal worldview, the ease of modeling techniques as well as its superior speed. At Müller - Die lila Logistik Deutschland AG, Arena® will be used on such diverse fields such as simulation-based costing analysis, process-design, process- and layout-optimization of warehouses and plants as well as distribution and supply chain network optimization.

Arena^® Webinar

(October 2006) Attend a Webinar designed to help you explore the use of simulation technology to enhance the quality of your business decision – all from the comfort of your office.
Whether you attend alone or with a group of your colleagues receive a comprehensive presentation.
Each Webinar begins with an overview of discrete-event simulation followed by a demonstration of Arena® software.

Demo topics include:
- Basic process modeling and animation
- Batching and parallel processing
- Decision logic
- Material handling and transportation
- model output reports
- and more!

Interested? Mail to rummler@sat-ag.com

New Member of the Supervisory Board of SAT AG

(December 2005) Professor Dr. Erhard Meyer-Galow, former Chairman of the Board of Management of HÜLS AG and STINNES AG and former member of the Board of Management of VEBA AG, was appointed to the Supervisory Board of SAT Simulations- und Automations- Technologie AG on December 1st 2005. Meyer-Galow, born in 1942 in Frankfurt/Main, started his carreer as head of department of Metallgesellschaft AG, Frankfurt/Main, after his study of chemistry. In 1974 he transferred to Sachtleben Chemie AG, Duisburg, where he became head of laboratories, then dircetor of marketing and sales and later member of the Board of Management. During his career, Prof. Dr. Meyer-Galow was member of the Board of Management of several german companies like Th. Goldschmidt AG, Essen (1983-1987), BRENNTAG AG, Mülheim (1988-1989), STINNES AG, Mülheim (1991-1993) and chairman of the Board of Management of BRENNTAG AG, Mülheim (1989-1991), HÜLS AG (1993-1998), STINNES AG Mülheim (1998) and member of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank AG and HDI Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie, Hanover and other companies. In 1998 Meyer-Galow became professor at the University of Münster and since 1999 he works as consultant for private equity investors.

Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG) decides for Arena® and SAT/ABS Airport Suite

(December 2005) After a tough evaluation process, Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG) has decided to implement the Arena®-based SAT/ABS Airport Suite at Zürich Airport. This decision was driven by the facts that Arena® is the leading discrete event simulator in the airport and airline market as well as the superior flexibility of the Arena®-based SAT/ABS Airport Suite. „Our decision for Arena® is based on the consistency, flexibility and architecture of the planning tool that SAT Simulations- und Automations- Technologie AG and the ABS Airport Business Solutions AG have implemented in their Airport Suite“, says Tobias Markert, Head of Operations Planning at Zürich Airport.

Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG) plans to establish simulation of passenger flows and resource utilization within terminal buildings as a core competence in it‘s Operations Planning department.

The implementation of the Schengen Convention till mid 2008 in Switzerland will require new terminal operation concepts at Zürich Airport and, therefore, will need simulation-based analysis of future airport operations scenarios taking Schengen into account.

To implement state-of-the-art simulation technology in the field of airport planning, Unique is working closely together with the ABS Airport Business Solutions AG/Düsseldorf, and the simulation experts of SAT Simulations- und Automations- Technologie AG /Freiburg.

The SAT/ABS Airport Suites module ABS Terminal Simulation provides a powerful Arena®-based template library for all terminal related processes as well as an integrated data warehouse for administration of model input and output data. Furthermore, Unique will work with the ABS-Flight Schedule Prognosis Tool - another feature of the SAT/ABS Airport Suite - for generating flight plans and handle their resulting traffic development.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG uses Arena® for Simulation Project at Frankfurt Airport

(November 2005)Deutsche Lufthansa, together with Fraport and DFS (Deutsche Flugsicherung), has conducted a simulation-based Depeaking-Project at Frankfurt Airport. The project, that was executed with Arena® , aimed for an optimal synchronisation of arriving and departing airplanes. The arrival process in Frankfurt is specifically critical due to the infrastructural nature of the airport. Congested airspace and infrastructure usually results in increasing blocktimes leading to a systematic distortion of the slot coordination process. As one result of the simulation project, the reduction of queuing times as well as improvements in efficiency led to a overall cost reduction of 20 to 30 million Euro per year. For project details please refer to Success Story and Lufthansa press conference.

Arena® Online "Demo on Demand"

(November 2005) Join Carley Jurishica, a consultant with the Manufacturing Automation group, as she guides you 25 minutes through a narrative and visual tour of Arena®. Her introduction to Arena includes such topics as Methodology and Terminology, Arena Product Family and Templates, Templates, Building and Running a Simple Model, and Features for Integrating Data. This is one presentation you won't want to miss!

Demo On Demand

SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie GmbH has been turned into a privately owned Stock Company

SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie GmbH has been turned into a privately owned stock company and now operates as SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG, effective March 9th, 2005.

Members of the Advisory Board are:

1. Prof. Dr. K. Alex Müller (Physicist and Physics Nobel Price Laureate 1987)

   
   K. Alex Müller (left) with J. G. Bednorz

2. Dr. Peter Zürn (former Director of the Baden-Badener UnternehmerGespräche)

   
   

3. Helmut Scheibenzuber
   (Director of CRC Clean Room Consulting GmbH)

Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Thomas Arzt

Based on the new company structure and in conjunction with the Worldwide Simulation Alliance (with partners in Australia, Brasil, Germany, Italy, South Africa, The Netherlands and the US) SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG now offers a new program to the executive level. With cost reductions achieved ranging from 2 to 130 million US $ Arena has proven its ability for strategic application in process optimization. For more information on our new approach "Simulation-based Cost Reduction Program" please contact info@sat-ag.com.

SAT Distribution Network Simulator

The more the worldwide economy is gaining pace, the more important becomes the optimization of national and international networks of distribution and supply chain. SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie AG now offers a new Arena-based tool, SAT Distribution Network Simulator, allowing a quick setup and optimization of complex distribution networks, regardless of size. The goals of a simulation-based optimization here are

• the reduction of transportation costs
• the reduction inventory level within the network
• service level and customer satisfaction
• center of gravity analysis

For details please contact info@sat-ag.com.

Worldwide Simulation Alliance

SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie GmbH is a member of Worldwide Simulation Alliance.

Project S3 - Security from Seat to Seat

(September 2003) Effective September 1st 2003, the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit has started the project S3 - Security from Seat to Seat. The project aims at the optimization of airport-related processes with a special focus on security, traveling convenience and delay reduction. The consortium consists of SAT Simulations- und Automations-Technologie GmbH, RAND Europe Berlin GmbH, Technische Universität Dresden, DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. and Lufthansa Systems Passenger Services GmbH as project leader. The project is designed to be completed in 2005.