Date: 9/9/2019
Author: Descreye Solutions
Last year we created a ranking of the best discrete event simulation software of 2018. We are committed to annually revisiting this ranking and determining what improvements and changes have been made in existing software to change the ranking. As such, Descreye Solutions presents the following ranking and award for the "Descreye Solutions Best Discrete Event Simulation Software of the Year." The award goes to the leader in the discrete event simulation software space as determined by the ranking system shown below. It should be noted that others have requested to be included in the ranking, but the following is seen as a representative sample of the most frequently used discrete event simulation software in commercial use. Other software is more common in educational settings, but those are not considered in this ranking. The following is an explanation (the same as last year) describing the ranking procedure.
In the ranking there are 5 categories. In addition to the overall winner, there are also a winner for each category.
Obviously, we at Descreye Solutions provide a simulation software tool (OPS), so it may seem self serving to provide a ranking. While we will rate OPS against the leaders in the field, we recognize that OPS is only useful for a small subset of discrete-event simulation. As such, it is highly unlikely to receive the award. In fact, this year it came in dead last in our ranking. If you feel it is a conflict of interest, which it is, then feel free to ignore OPS in the ranking.
Before getting into the ranking system it should be mentioned that others have also provided comparisons of discrete-event simulation software. One such study is done biannually by ORMS, and the latest version is here:
This is merely a comparison based on a survey of various discrete-event simulation software providers. Unfortunately, it is a self assessment, so it doesn't evaluate the extent to which each criteria is accomplished. This makes less feature rich software look similar to the more feature rich software if the provider has some amount of functionality in the criteria. The ORMS survey is an important benchmark, but it doesn't quite help answer the question of the best
Another attempt at comparing discrete-event simulation software has been done in the following paper:
Discrete simulation software ranking - A top list of the worldwide most popular and used tools
This study used popularity (determined by search engine statistics) to determine which software was superior. While popularity is important, it should not be the only factor in determining the best tool for the job. As such, a similar metric is included in our analysis.
In order to create a ranking of discrete event simulation software, we settled on the following five categories: Capabilities, Industries, Ease of Use, Popularity, and Development. These categories are described in detail below. Each category had 2-9 topics. Each simulation software package was ranked on a scale from 1 to 5 in each of the topics. While the ranking is subjective, it is based on the experience of those on our team and those with which we have consulted. If any software feels misrepresented they are free to contact us and we will review the ranking.
Capabilities contains topics that involve general functionalities of simulation software. These functionalities should not be specific to any particular industry or tool, but instead are things that are commonly looked at when evaluating simulation software. The topics in the capabilities category and a short description of their meaning are in the following list:
All of these topics get equally weighted when determing the discrete event simulation software that is the "Descreye Solutions Most Capable Discrete Event Simulation Software of the Year" award. Additionally, each of these topics is equally weighted with all other topics to determine the overall best discrete event simulation software of the year.
The purpose of the industries ranking is to analyze which tool is the best general purpose simulation software. Each tool is ranked in each industry based on the ease of building models for that industry in the tool. The following industries are considered as topics to be ranked:
All of these topics get equally weighted when determing the discrete event simulation software that is the "Descreye Solutions Most General Purpose Event Simulation Software of the Year" award. Additionally, each of these topics is equally weighted with all other topics to determine the overall best discrete event simulation software of the year.
The purpose of this category is to rank the software by the ease of use. There is a lot of capable discrete event simulation software tools, but usefulness is often determined by the ease of use of the software. The following topics and a short description are used for ranking:
All of these topics get equally weighted when determing the discrete event simulation software that is the "Descreye Solutions Easiest Discrete Event Simulation Software of the Year" award. Additionally, each of these topics is equally weighted with all other topics to determine the overall best discrete event simulation software of the year.
The purpose of this category is to rank the software by its popularity. Popularity can be an important metric when choosing a discrete event simulation software package, because it can influence the ease at which companies can staff resources to do the simulation work. This category is ranked using 3 sources of popularity metrics, which include the following:
All of these topics get equally weighted when determing the discrete event simulation software that is the "Descreye Solutions Most Popular Discrete Event Simulation Software of the Year" award. Additionally, each of these topics is equally weighted with all other topics to determine the overall best discrete event simulation software of the year.
the development category is an indication of the ability of the simulation software provider to adjust to future trends and give added capability. The software is ranked in two topics in this category, which are the following:
All of these topics get equally weighted when determing the discrete event simulation software that is the "Descreye Solutions Most Actively Developed Discrete Event Simulation Software of the Year" award. Additionally, each of these topics is equally weighted with all other topics to determine the overall best discrete event simulation software of the year.
| Simulation Tool | Execution Speed | Optimization Capability | Distribution Fitting | Programming | Database Connection | Graphics | Default Library Quality | Customization | Statistics Capturing |
| AnyLogic | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Arena | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| AutoMod | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Emulate3D | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| FlexSim | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| OPS | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| ProModel | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| SimEvents | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Witness | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Simulation Tool | Manufacturing | Logistics | Warehousing | Packaging | Material Handling | Healthcare |
| AnyLogic | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Arena | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| AutoMod | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Emulate3D | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| FlexSim | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| OPS | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| ProModel | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| SimEvents | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Witness | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Simulation Tool | Training Requirement | Learning Resources | Frequency of Programming | 1st Model Building Time |
| AnyLogic | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Arena | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| AutoMod | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Emulate3D | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| FlexSim | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| OPS | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| ProModel | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| SimEvents | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Witness | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Simulation Tool | Wikipedia | ||
| AnyLogic | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Arena | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| AutoMod | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Emulate3D | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| FlexSim | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| OPS | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ProModel | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| SimEvents | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Witness | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Simulation Tool | Latest Release | Features Added in Previous Year |
| AnyLogic | 3 | 4 |
| Arena | 2 | 2 |
| AutoMod | 1 | 1 |
| Emulate3D | 4 | 3 |
| FlexSim | 5 | 3 |
| OPS | 2 | 1 |
| ProModel | 2 | 1 |
| SimEvents | 3 | 2 |
| Witness | 3 | 1 |
Below is a table with the overall rankings and the category winners. From the rankings it is clear that FlexSim is the "Descreye Solutions Best Discrete Event Simulation Software of 2019." Additionally, FlexSim was a winner in 5 out of 5 of the categories. FlexSim increased its lead in the space this year by having more active development than others and by becoming more popular among those that use discrete event simulation software.
| Simulation Tool | Best of 2018 | Most Capable | Most General Purpose | Easiest | Most Popular | Most Actively Developed |
| AnyLogic | 3.4 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 4.3 | 3.5 |
| Arena | 3.3 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 2.0 |
| AutoMod | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 1.0 |
| Emulate3D | 2.8 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 3.5 |
| FlexSim | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 4.0 |
| OPS | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 |
| ProModel | 2.5 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 1.5 |
| SimEvents | 2.1 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 2.5 |
| Witness | 2.1 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 2.0 |
| WINNER | FlexSim | FlexSim | FlexSim | FlexSim | FlexSim | FlexSim |
For any questions please contact us.
To modify these rankings to best identify which simulation software is right for your application, it would be useful to weight each topic by the importance that your application requires. By using a custom weighting mechanism it would be easy to identify the best solution for your specific application.