Revisitation of the simulation methodologies and applications in manufacturing

Manufacturing is one of the largest application areas of simulation. For the purpose of understanding where, how and why the simulation is used in the manufacturing, this survey classifies the manufacturing system into two broad areas viz. manufacturing system design and manufacturing system operations. The two broad areas are further subdivided for this study. The survey discusses the evolution of the subdivisions before detailing the need of simulation in each of the sub divisions of the manufacturing systems. Finally, a discussion is made in order to understand where the research is heading for and identifying the future directions.