Several process modeling techniques have been used in simulation projects. However, most of these techniques provide little specific support to the programming. The main cause of this is the fact that these techniques were not developed with the same logic used in simulation models. From this issue, this paper presents an industrial application of a new conceptual modeling technique, named IDEF-SIM (Integrated Definition Methods -Simulation) currently under development by the authors. This adapted IDEF uses logic elements present in techniques such as IDEF0 and IDEF3, but in a way that is similar to the process interpretation logic usually used in simulation projects. This way, it can be noticed an increase in the conceptual model's utility, which might facilitate the simulation model programming, verification and validation and the scenarios creation. Additionally, the paper presents the benefits of using IDEF-SIM to create the conceptual model of a Brazilian tech company manufacturing cell.

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This study aims to assess delivery lockers as a last-mile solution, considering the behavior and interaction among e-commerce stakeholders. In Brazil, a large portion of deliveries are attended home. This results in a large number of failed deliveries and redelivery attempts, which can reach up to three delivery attempts. Delivery lockers (DL) represent a solution to reduce the number of re-deliveries and consolidate the delivery of goods. The implementation of DL and the exclusion of the third delivery attempt are evaluated in this study via an agent-based simulation model (ABSM) in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Four scenarios were simulated by varying delivery locker implementation and the exclusion of the third attempts, which allowed comparable results to be obtained for each agent, in terms of gains and operational and external costs (emission, noise, and congestion). The scenario that most closely resembles the current situation was the one that presented the worst results. The implementation of the lockers brings improvements to this scenario in terms of reducing re-deliveries and distances traveled by trucks. When the possibility of three delivery attempts is excluded, the benefits are even greater. The deployment of lockers also enables carriers to reduce the number of trucks required to make deliveries, thereby increasing their profits.

The managerial excellence is based on the company competence to produce, store and disseminate knowledge. Such an importance is even more justified by the use of knowledge to analyze failures in order to avoid undesirable consequences and guarantee the system reliability. In this context, this article presents a Knowledge Management application in an electric energy company. The main aim of this article is to present a method for mapping failures through an information system. This system provides failure trees, which storage photos, procedures, management descriptions of failures and, to avoid relapse, previous ways of solutions. In short, this work provides a practical application of the Knowledge Management approach to the failure analysis subject. Key wordsKnowledge Management, Information System, Failure Analysis. DAGOBERTO ALVES ResumoO desempenho das empresas em ambientes concorrenciais encontra-se cada vez mais relacionado com a capacidade das empresas em produzir, armazenar e disseminar conhecimento. Esta importância é intensificada quando o conhecimento é usado para a análise de falhas, com o objetivo de evitar a ocorrência de problemas e aumentar a confiabilidade dos sistemas. Dentro deste contexto o presente trabalho apresenta a aplicação da Gestão do Conhecimento para a análise de falhas em uma empresa distribuidora de energia elétrica. O foco deste artigo é a apresentação de um modelo para mapeamento de falhas e de um sistema de informação que operacionaliza o método. Tal sistema auxilia na construção das árvores de falhas, no armazenamento de documentos, fotos e descrições relacionadas para cada árvore de falhas desenvolvida. Em suma, este trabalho apresenta uma aplicação prática da Gestão do Conhecimento que enseja uma metodologia nova e de uso comprovado.

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Discrete-event simulation (DES) has been widely used in systems analysis. However, authors defend the idea that this kind of simulation does not properly represent the human element or the factors affecting its productivity. In Agent-Based Simulation (ABS), agents are intelligent, autonomous and proactive beings, which are features closely related to human behaviour. Therefore, ABS and DES were combined into one model to represent the human element as agents, who were subjected to one of the factors that affect their performance, the circadian rhythm. After statistical validation it was determined that the computer models integrating ABS and DES represent the productive systems under analysis with high level of confidence. A comparison between the model built and a DES model where operators are represented by resources was also performed. It was verified that the ABS/DES represents better the actual systems behaviour than the DES, showing a lower average of relative error.