Simulation Everywhere: An Evolutionary Expansion of Discrete-Event Modeling and Simulation research and practice

TL;DR

This paper reviews the evolution and expanding application of discrete-event simulation (DES) over decades, highlighting its growing importance in Industry 4.0, digital transformation, and potential integration with generative AI.

Contribution

It provides a bibliometric analysis of DES's growth, adoption across sectors, and discusses future integration with generative AI to enhance simulation capabilities.

Findings

Positive yearly growth in DES literature

Broadened DES adoption across diverse industries

DES remains central in Industry 4.0 and digital transformation

Abstract

Simulation was launched in the 1950s, nicknamed a tool of "last resort." Over the years, this Operations Research (OR) method has made significant progress, and utilizing the accelerated advances in computer science (hardware and software, processing speed, and advanced information visualization capabilities) to improve simulation usability in research and practice. After overcoming the initial obstacles and the scare of outliving its usefulness in the 2000s, computer simulation has remained a popular OR tool applied in diverse industries and sectors, earning its popularity leading to the term "simulation everywhere." This study uses bibliographic data from research and practice literature to evaluate the evolutionary expansion in simulation, focusing on discrete-event simulation (DES). The results show asymmetrical but positive yearly literature out-put, broadened DES adoption in diverse fields, and sustained relevance as a scientific method for tackling old, new, and emerging issues. Also, DES is an essential tool in Industry 4.0 and plays a central role in digital transformation that has swept the industrial space, from manufacturing to healthcare and other sectors. With the emergence, ongoing adoption, and deployment of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), future studies seek ways to integrate GenAI in DES to remain relevant and improve the modeling and simulation processes.