Simulation Excursion of The Netherlands Defense Academy, NLDA

Simulation Workshop and Presentation of The Netherlands Defense Academy, NLDA

For over 30 years, InControl has been working in close cooperation with many leading global Universities, Applied Sciences, and R&D Institutes. InControl’s cooperation is related to solving complex issues for so-called crowded places or supply chains such as last-mile delivery, human behavior, or specific domains like Defense.

A good example is the usage of our discrete-event software Enterprise Dynamics® during courses at the Netherlands Defense Academy, NLDA. As of this year, NLDA started using our Crowd Management simulation application as well. Both applications are very relevant for military planning, strategy, and operations.  The simulation software of InControl has become an integral part of the Master Military Technology, Processes & Systems (MTPS) curriculum. In this Master’s Program, much attention is paid to modeling and simulation. During the MTPS Master’s Program, students learn to identify, analyze and solve complex technical-operational challenges, related to military missions and systems.

Simulation software has proved to be an important tool to prepare and optimize military infrastructures, and operations, train staff, and predict incidents that threaten (inter)national safety and security. How can we effectively prepare soldiers and security personnel to succeed in their work during peace and mission-critical settings? Our Simulation Software can support the introduction of new operating procedures for tactical and operational army logistics.

Two weeks ago a group of students, professors, and lecturers of the NLDA visited our office in Woerden for a Simulation Workshop & Presentation. Our CCO, Frank van Poeteren, kicked off with a presentation about InControl and our experiences and contribution to the defense domain. Followed by a presentation by Douwe, Crowd Management Simulation Engineer at InControl. He explained the validation and technical features of our software application Pedestrian Dynamics®. Our CTO, Fred Jansma explained how our software contributes to the safety and security of complex infrastructures.

Student Presentation

Student presentation NLDA

As part of the program, four students from the Master Degree MTPS from the faculty of Military Science presented their assignments using Pedestrian Dynamics®. All students are Navy, Land, and Air Force officers and follow the Master’s program, besides their daily operations and assignments, part-time. InControl’s Pedestrian Dynamics® is used to understand the behavior of agents in specific settings and is tested if the results of their simulation models sync with the theory and vice versa. A very successful Workshop & Presentation with compliments to the well-prepared students and good cooperation with the lecturers of the NLDA.  

“We enjoyed our visit to InControl: from the enthousiastic welcome, and the interesting case studies to the in-depth discussions during the day. We learned a lot while having fun. In particular, talking with the Crowd Simulation Engineers was very fruitful: we discussed Pedestrian Dynamics and how we could use it for our applications. We shared many ideas and started collaborating on new projects. 

We look forward to visiting again with our next batch of master students.” 

– Ir. Sander van Oers, Assistant professor NLDA 

Consider starting a simulation course with our simulation software at your University, Applied Sciences, or R&D Institute.

Feel free to contact us to receive more information about our educational program and become part of our Educational Community to discuss and share your knowledge with other lecturers.

Contact us
Contact us

Enterprise Dynamics® 10.4.1 released!

Enterprise Dynamics® 10.4.1 released!

Last February we released Enterprise Dynamics® 10.4. Since then, we’ve received many positive reactions from our business partners, clients and teachers who are working with our software. Nevertheless, we also received some feedback including advices and bug reports. Naturally we have been busy improving the software and we are therefore happy to announce the release of Enterprise Dynamics® 10.4.1!

With the latest version of Enterprise Dynamics® we have added the following three highly requested features:

  • Improved search options: “Text in atom” now also searches in cells of a table
  • Improved search options: “Atom in model” now also accepts wildcards
  • Label overview expanded, giving a clearer overview

Additionally we have solved some minor issues that came forward after the release of Enterprise Dynamics® 10.4. A detailed overview of the highlights can be found in the release highlights document.

Curious what Enterprise Dynamics® can do for you and your company?
Please contact us, or try the software for free.

Enterprise Dynamics® 10.4 released!

Enterprise Dynamics® 10.4 released!

Are you designing, validating, and optimizing your Supply Chain including specific issues related to manufacturing, (re-)allocation, and logistics?

Enterprise Dynamics® is the industry simulation solution. InControl is happy to announce the release of Enterprise Dynamics® 10.4! Technically improved, more stable and with an increased user-friendliness.

Since the previous release, our developers have worked hard on adding several technical features, improving the user-friendliness and making the software more robust. All this to further increase the workflow, enabling you to create your models even faster.

These improvements are the result of close cooperation between our clients, the end-user of the software, our business partners and our software developers.

The main release highlights are: 

  • Increased reading and writing speed of the Excel ActiveX
  • Increased performance of table and data handling
  • Option to see the planned path for an Advanced Transporter
  • Screenshots in high resolutions now also available for the 3D window
  • Cut-off time of assembler now possible for containers
  • Initialize atom now has an “on load model” functionality
  • User Event atom now can be labelled or provided with a name

Curious what Enterprise Dynamics® can do for you and your company?
Please contact us, or try the software for free.

How Simulation contributes to Liveable, Safe, and Sustainable cities

How simulation contributes to Livable, Safe, and Sustainable cities

Today about 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Expected is, that by 2050 this number will increase to about 68%. Not only the numbers are increasing, but also the needs are getting more diverse. Urban environments are exciting places to live, work and unwind. But how do we combine all of these aspects in a city? These Metropolitan Areas are not only growing fast but also changing continuously. We have to act faster and more adequate to trends and specific circumstances; like ‘greener’ ways of mobility or – relevant as it is still today – meet physical distancing ruling. All the aforementioned affairs come together in the overall question: how do we facilitate the City of the Future? 

Together with its business partners, Accenture Singapore has created its vision for the Future of Cities. These Metropolitan Areas should not only be the economic powerhouses of our world but also livable, safe, and sustainable locations that are by design inclusive to each stakeholder. Accenture Singapore brings together the relevant expertise and the best of class technology in their recently launched Future of Cities Innovation Hub; focusing on Sustainability, Mobility, and Safety & Security. We, InControl, are both happy and proud to announce that our simulation software is contributing to this Singapore Innovation Hub. In this manner, we are not only committed to the jointly created vision of the Future of Cities but strengthen our company mission statement: ‘’To deliver simulation software for a safe and sustainable planet.’’

But… how exactly is simulation contributing to future cities? To design cities’ infrastructures optimally, a thorough understanding of logistical flows is essential. Not only the logistical flow of pedestrians but also related to goods, rolling stock, energy, and even waste. The simulation of these processes and specific dynamics and scenarios provide tremendous information which in turn gives answers to complex, logistical issues. Think of capacity management, urban planning, and safety & security. Not only can simulation be part of the design phase of urban infrastructures, but it also plays a major role in real-time control and planning of operations. Possible congested areas or other (potential) issues related to public safety and security can be foreseen in an early stage, enabling authorities to act adequately and fast.

For simulating these scenarios, Metropolitan areas and City Authorities are visualizing the infrastructure in a so-called ‘digital twin’. However, to make this digital representation as realistic as possible enormous amounts of data are needed. A powerful software platform is key to process all this data of pedestrians, bikes and vehicular (public) traffic flows. InControl’s simulation software platform Enterprise Dynamics® (including Pedestrian Dynamics®) enables authorities to gather, enrich and process data from several sources like mobile devices, road and parking systems, and even weather stations! A digital twin facilitates the optimization of all flows in a city or any other infrastructure, providing information, insights and allowing quantifiable comparison of scenarios. By having this better understanding of pedestrian and other (public) transportation flows in congested areas during both regular and irregular days. The impact of bottlenecks, queues, and unsafe settings during e.g. city (re)development, road construction activities, or sports and other events, can be predicted and limited in an early stage and – even better – be avoided!           

Besides providing an overview of the distinct scenarios for a certain area, the simulation model also provides so-called ‘heat maps’. These maps provide information about the level of services provided in a certain area where not only the safety of pedestrians can be analyzed but also their level of comfort. Via both the simulation scenarios and heat maps, concretely and easily can be determined whether KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are met.

With Simulation Software, InControl is not only contributing to the realization of City and Metropolitan Authorities’ goals but also providing a pleasant, safe, and secure setting for citizens, workers, and visitors. All around the world, for more than 30 years! Would you like to be fully in control of your urban infrastructure? Please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to tell you more about our experiences and expertise. 

For more information, please contact:

Read more about Accenture’s Innovation Hub in this article.

Online seminar Simulation & Education

Online seminar Simulation & Education

Together with Business Partner Integrate, InControl will host an online seminar Simulation & Education on Monday the 21st of March from 14:00 till 17:00 CET.

During this seminar the following topics will be discussed:

  • The role of simulation in Energy systems
  • The role of simulation in education and research at Aalborg University
  • Future developments and releases of Enterprise Dynamics®

The role of simulation in Energy Systems

As modern societies consume huge amounts of energy, which results in a negative impact on the environment, a focus on green energy is vital for our planet. It will be shown that simulation can play an important role in this energy transition.  

The role of simulation in education and research as Aalborg University

Aalborg University is ranked best in Europe within the field of Engineering, the program takes fourth place in the world! During the seminar guest speaker Professor Kenn Steger-Jensen from Aalborg University will explain the role of Simulation in education and research in their study program.

Future developments and releases Enterprise Dynamics®

InControl’s Product Manager, Harry Bunnik will get you up to speed with the latest developments of Enterprise Dynamics® and discuss future plans.

The Program

14:00 – 14:20     Welcome, introduction

Nienke Valkhoff, InControl

What InControl does for their educational customers

14:20 – 15:00    The role of simulation in Energy Systems

Daniel Karnøe, Logics

15:00 – 15:15     Short break

15:15 – 16:00     The role of simulation in education and research at Aalborg University

Prof. Kenn Steger-Jensen, Aalborg University, & Michael Sparre Sørensen, Integrate

What Aalborg University does in education and research using Simulation

16:00 – 16:30     Future developments and releases of Enterprise Dynamics®

Harry Bunnik, Product Manager Enterprise Dynamics®

16:30 – 17:00     Discussion – What do educational customers need from ED?

Join this online seminar and register here.

ASIM Award Ceremony

ASIM Award Ceremony 2021

Last month the 19th Event of the Simulation Working Group (ASIM, “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Simulation”) took place, this year online for the first time. The ASIM is the largest European simulation conference for production and logistics and presents trends, current developments, scientific work, and interesting applications in the industry every two years.

The Simulation Working Group (ASIM) is a technical committee of the Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI). The task of the ASIM is the promotion and further development of modeling and simulation in the basics and application as well as to improve the communication between theory and practice. Moreover, ASIM is a founding member of EUROSIM, the umbrella organization of European simulation societies. Therefore, the ASIM is the most important platform for developers and users of simulation in German-speaking countries.

Even though, this year the conference took place virtually the participation was as high as usual. There were approximately 180 participants who exchanged ideas in the topics of simulation in 4 parallel tracks and 70 specialist lectures.

As part of the conference the ASIM Jury calls for an outstanding thesis (Master, Bachelor or Diploma). This year, we congratulate our award winner Christina Gschwendtner from Söchtenau for her master’s thesis on simulation in construction. The main focus of the work is on the logistics of interior construction projects. As a loyal ASIM member, also this year InControl sponsored the award of €1.000,- together with SimPlan AG. 

(Christina Gschwendtner accepting her price virtually)

Online seminar Simulation & Education

Online seminar Simulation & Education

Join us on Thursday the 21st of October for an insightful online German Seminar Simulation & Education.

During this seminar our simulation experts and guest speakers will discuss the following topics:

  • Digital Twin; the role of simulation in baggage handling at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
  • Simulation at HTL Leoben
  • Future developments of Enterprise Dynamics®


The program:

14:00 – 14:20            Welcome, introduction
Margit Thomsen, InControl
What does InControl do for their educational customers?

14:20–15:00               Digital Twin; the role of simulation in baggage handling at Schiphol
Harry Bunnik, InControl and Han Mackor, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

15:00 – 15:15            Break (15minutes)

15:15 – 16:00            Simulation at HTL Leoben                  
Dr. Thomas Messner, HTL Leoben, Austria
Experiences using Enterprise Dynamics® in simulation & education

16:00 –16:30             Enterprise Dynamics 10.4 release + Futures developments
Harry Bunnik, Product manager Enterprise Dynamics InControl                                                Han Mackor, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

16:30 – 17:00            Discussion – What do educational customers need from Enterprise Dynamics
Discussion with participants

 

 

Do you want to follow this online seminar? Register here! 

Please note that this Online Seminar will be in German. 

Simulation adds value to Education

Simulation adds value to Education

Inspiring online seminar for our Educational User Community

On April 29th a group of enthusiastic teachers from several Universities working and teaching with Enterprise Dynamics® attended our online seminar Simulation & Education. InControl received loads of positive reactions launching the simulation software Enterprise Dynamics version 10.4. Particular new features and the user-friendliness were mentioned.  

In the discussion about online teaching, the teachers expressed great appreciation of the free-of-charge Enterprise Dynamics Student Starter extended edition. InControl made this version available since universities and Applied Sciences Institutes closed their facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.    

A part of the new software release and the extended Student Starter edition, the following two subjects were presented: 

The first presenter was Mr. Koos van Overdijk from Avans University of Applied Sciences. He explained how they are using the Enterprise Dynamics program for many years. More than 150 students per year studying Industrial Engineering and Management uses InControl’s software program during Discrete Simulation courses. Where students have to design a soft drink factory in Enterprise Dynamics with all its features as part of a group project. Mr. Koos van Overdijk, has provided this inspiring course for many years and presented the ins and outs of this case and the way he shared his knowledge during the seminar.  

Thereafter, Mr. Han Mackor of Royal Schiphol Group and Mr. Harry Bunnik of InControl explained how a Digital Twin is created. What are the starting points and what steps do you need to take before you are even ready to run Digital Twin? To give insight into this process we elaborated on our approach to the baggage handling system of Airport Amsterdam Schiphol. How does Schiphol translate a suggestion to (re)design or improve a system or process into a realistic implementation using the advantages of simulation software? 

Are you interested in teaching with Enterprise Dynamics classroom?  

Become part of our active Educational User Community and discuss or share your knowledge and experiences with other lecturers. 

Just send an email or check our website.  

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Student using Enterprise Dynamics® Software successfully at Royal Schiphol Group

Student using Enterprise Dynamics Software successfully at Royal Schiphol Group

During my graduation project of the master Operations Management and Logistics at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) I conducted a research project at the Royal Schiphol Group. In my research I worked with the software of InControl Enterprise Dynamics to improve the trucks’ lead time designated for the air cargo handling. This software was preferred since Royal Schiphol Group already collaborated with InControl before. Besides, the software is suitable for the proposed model since it is able to develop discrete-event simulations, shows the flow of the trucks, and has the possibilities to analyze and visualize the model in 2D and 3D perspectives. Moreover, the TU/e provided a user license to the students for this software.

In more detail, my research investigated the flow of trucks arriving at five airport locations to pick up or deliver goods. Specifically, their waiting times at each location were evaluated for the current situation and how the waiting times would change with the adoption of a new concept. The new concept was called Drop and Collect and allows trucks to park their trailers at a truck parking until their goods need to be further processed. This concept ensures more control of the trucks’ flow and a just-in-time handling of goods when they are needed for the next stage of transport (e.g. flying to the next destination). Since a truck parking is added to the current situation, the trucks’ waiting times will change. Enterprise Dynamics was able to measure the change in time well. The design of my models consisted of three steps. Thereafter, the results were analyzed and evaluated.

First, I developed a simulation model of the current situation in the software. Before I started this research I had never worked with Enterprise Dynamics. However, a lot of information could be extracted from the InControl community where a lot of students had asked questions that were similar to my questions. Besides, tutorials and videos were available with basic models to compare and receive information. And what I really liked about InControl is that they were very accessible to ask questions.

Second, I developed additional models for five different scenarios of the Drop and Collect concept in Enterprise Dynamics. These scenarios were more complex than the current situation. Additional simulation objects were necessary to model these scenarios. Also changes in the behavior of the model was necessary. The new scenarios required a lot of capacity and processing constraints. These could be easily implemented using the Enterprise Dynamics Script language 4DScript.

Third, I run the models using the real data sets. During the development phase of the models I worked with small self-conceived data sets to build accurate models. After the models are validated and verified real data sets were used. Therefore, the corresponding trucks’ waiting times could be analyzed by running the models. The software was really helpful by analyzing and quantifying the trucks’ flows.

Last, the results of the simulation were evaluated and conclusions about the adoption of the Drop and Collect concept were drawn.

Overall, the software of InControl gave a good representation of the trucks’ flow at the airport and show where bottlenecks occur. The possibility to show the movements in 3D are very valuable for the understanding of the system and possible errors could be found more easily.

Are you interested in a thesis project about modeling with Enterprise Dynamics? The Enterprise Dynamics Pro license is an affordable license for students working on their bachelor’s or master’s thesis. Please find more information here or contact the research education team via email. 

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