NESIS: A neutral schema for a web-based simulation model exchange service across heterogeneous simulation software

Generally, the generation of a simulation model is both a time- and cost-consuming task within processes for performing simulation. Therefore, reuse of the simulation model that is once generated based on a huge amount of information/data is an essential and important issue for simulation engineers. It is more difficult to exchange a reusable simulation model across heterogeneous simulation systems because these systems have different structures and modes of expressing information even if the contents are the same. A neutral file format has been proposed as a methodology to solve this kind of problem in the exchange of simulation models between simulation and other manufacturing applications. Towards this end, in this article, NEutral SImulation Schema (NESIS) is defined based on several neutral file formats such as NIST SDM, SDX and PLM Services; then, a system architecture is designed and implemented based on the proposed neutral simulation model for an interoperable environment. The target commercial simulation applications in this article are QUEST and Plant Simulation. Therefore, interfaces for each of these commercial systems are developed. As a case study, NESIS and the developed simulation model exchange system are practically applied to a Korean automotive parts assembly line. So the result of application shows that it is possible to effectively work collaboratively in a distributed environment. To elaborate, if simulation modelling is once completed in a commercial simulation application, there is no more need to model for different kinds of applications. Therefore, the time and effort for modelling the same target is greatly reduced for different kinds of simulation applications. The reduction in the time and effort for simulation will ensure effective concurrent engineering.