Introduction to simulation with NetLogo: how to create a small factory?
NetLogo was designed as an introduction to a type of simulation that allows putting into action several agents, each with its own behavior. Also known as Agent-Based Modeling. This software is also used professionally, especially for social simulations, in epidemiology and biology. It is accessible without any prior knowledge of programming, as the language it uses is simple. It is therefore the perfect tool for a short introduction.
Simulating a plant in NetLogo can be a way to quickly test assumptions. However, if you want to get serious about it, I can only recommend digital twin production line software like Anylogic and FlexSim, or, depending on the problem to be solved, simulation libraries in Julia and Python.
The code of your model is available on GitHub.
Our production line
We will use different types of agents:
- Boxes of parts. To simplify, we will imagine that they are small robots that move from station to station, with a predefined logic.
- Production machinery. We will imagine that our process is that of a forge by stamping, which strikes billets of red steel between two dies to give them a shape, polishes them, and finishes them by machining. We will detail these…
