Returns of more than 15 to 20 times the investments made - obtained within a few weeks to months - have been recorded as the benchmark for customers using Rockwell Automation's Arena simulation software solution.
The Arena product family provides organisations with ease-of-use, flexibility, and domain experience required in modelling any aspect of the business enterprise - from customer contact, manufacturing, and business processes, to logistics and across the supply chain through a unique combination of a common and scalable software architecture, comprehensive modelling capabilities, application focused modelling templates, a natural learning curve that adapts to modelling requirements and end-to-end simulation project support.
"The returns are usually measured in the form of process improvements or cost savings ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of rands from a single project," reports Rudolf van Wyk, software capability manager, Rockwell Automation South Africa. More than 6000 users worldwide have used Arena for improving performance in all aspects of business. Cases of success with Arena by companies such as Dow Chemical, Hershey, UPS, IBM, Ford, GM, among others have been documented.
Arena is outfitted to suit the needs of a project that requires an in-depth analysis of a particular functional area, such as manufacturing, customer service, or one that requires a breadth of scope that cuts across several functional areas.
Through a combination of process simulation and optimisation technologies, Arena helps demonstrate, predict, and measure system performance - specifically the effectiveness and efficiency of new strategies - and test-drive new business rules and scenarios in a controlled (simulated) environment under varying conditions and decision criteria before implementation on 'live' operations or customers.
An effective Arena implementation helps organisations avoid costly mistakes by making decisions based on gut feel or static modelling, test in realistic conditions before implementing on live operations or customers, expose the true effect of randomness and variability, reveal value and eliminate wasteful bottlenecks in existing processes, test drive new business rules, validate investment allocations, demonstrate the impact of change to others and enforce change with confidence.
For unparalleled ease of use, Arena relies on natural flowchart-style model building, regardless of a project's detail or complexity. "Arena goes as far as allowing organisations to craft their own simulation toolkits for specific applications," Van Wyk points out. "I am confident that we will see the same interest locally in this crucial tool as we have overseas, especially as more and more local companies are starting to drive towards world-class business practices."
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