Simulation with Arena with CD-ROM

Rating:
Summary: An excellent 2nd edition
Review: Again the authors of the first edition did an excellent job.
This text book helps the novice in simulation to understand discrete-event simulation and to master one of the leading simulation packages Arena. Also experienced simulationists will benefit from this book since it provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to Arena version 5.
The text book is particularly useful to students who can study discrete-event simulation by using this major simulation package, since a free academic version of the Arena 5 software and the examples used throughout the text is included with the book.
An important addition to the previous edition is the chapter on continuous and combined discrete/continuous models.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to Arena requiring supplement
Review: I used this book in 2 grad courses on simulation (one with Dr. Kelton himself!).

This is an outstanding book on the basics of the Arena simulation s/w. The explanations are detailed with screen-shots, etc. to clarify topics. The examples, specially the introductory ones, are excellent illustrations of simulation concepts in the Arena envioronment. The student version of the Arena s/w {version 5} is provided and more than sufficient for learning purposes. Also, the CD includes most of the example problems from the text & can be refered to when in trouble. Arena also has SMART files that are more complex examples illustrating various capabilities and these are very good for reference. The Arena online help is also quite comprehensive too. A big advantage of this book is explanations on building animations of the simulation model. Other books don't offer as good and simple coverage as this one does.

Some of the advanced material and concepts, however, are not explained in as much detail as the earlier chapters. The authors are not to be blamed entirely though; many of these models/examples are fairly elaborate and complete enumeration of details is difficult. However, I would have liked more comprehensive explanations on some features of Arena like: Transporters (this book covers only one type of transporter available in Arena; transporters are accurately explained in an older and out of print book); using VBA for automation of some features {this is very useful to make the simulation read i/p from a spreadsheet or text file}- the authors assume this will be picked up by users themselves, etc. Arena uses the SIMAN language as its engine for simulation. Siman has many, many blocks with more advanced options and features that are not explained here & this is the biggest drawback of the book. For modeling complex systems, I often use these lower level blocks and explanations of these blocks and features are comprehensive in "Introduction to Simulation Using SIMAN" by Pegden et al. In fact, with pretty good familiarity of the Arena envioronment, I use this Siman book a lot more nowdays. Only in animation building is the Siman book insufficient.

It is very important to note that this book is a refernce on simulation using Arena, NOT simulation concepts as a whole (these are covered briefly too); for simulation concepts and overviews, I recommend "Simulation Modeling and Analysis" by Law & Kelton as well as "Discrete Event System Simulation" by Banks, et al.

Let me end with this note: Dr. Kelton used material from this book in his introduction to Arena, so it'll be like learing in class itself. I would consider the Pegden book as a replacement or supplement to this one though.

Rating:
Summary: Learn SIMAN too
Review: It is really good book for learning Arena. I am referring to the latest edition which teaches ARENA 5.0. The old book taught ARENA 3.5 which is kinda outdated now. But the basics are the same except that the software details are different. If possible get the new book or if you are comfortable in using new softwares you can buy the old book and adjust to ARENA 5.0.

It is well organised and explains all the concepts of discrete event simulation very clearly. The only part I am not satisfied is the transporters chapter. These are explained very well in Shannon and Sadowski "Intoduction to Simulation using SIMAN". They have very good chapters on guided and unguided transporters which are very necessary to simulation of flexible manufacturing systems. I had to simulate a bus transportation system and the ARENA book could not expalin how to use transporters. Actually if you learn SIMAN it would be more useful than learning ARENA. SIMAN is the language beneath ARENA interface and it is low level. You can have more control on the simulation with SIMAN. But some things are done easy with ARENA. So I strongly recommend reading the fundamentals with the ARENA book. And learn the fundas of basic blocks from SIMAN book.

Dont forget to participate in teh simulation contest conducted by Rockwell software(ARENA) every year at IIE conference. Dr. Sadowski is incharge of this contest and the problems are very challenging. I know I wrote much more than the book itself. Hope its useful. :-)

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, not great
Review: The book on arena is an excellent primer on simulation, but some of the higher level arena examples are not very clear.

I would recommend it to someone new in the field, or taking a class. However, this is not as good as other how-to programming books out there ...

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: This book doesn't provide any good examples.
The description of those models are BAD.
Author suppose that every readers are already familiar with
all the functions of arena?

Author doesn't explain many modeling trickys clearly.

To be frankly, I am disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Good book, but VERY LIMITED software.
Review: What you get for your money: a book on version 5 of Arena and a CD with the student version of the software.
The book is a good introduction to the topic of discrete event system simulation, although if this is your only interest you'll get better value buying A. Law's book or Jerry Banks's book (also available at Amazon).
After introducing the basic concepts in simulation, the book turns into a tutorial in the use of Arena. This is basically a good thing, but you'll find that there are so stringent limitations in the software provided, that some of the examples cannot be completed. This did not happen wiht version 3 (1998 edition). So what is the purpose?
Selling THIS book is a way of whetting your appetite for buying the software. If you are looking for information on simulation you can buy Law's book or Jerry Banks's book, if you are looking for software go directly to the manufacturer of Arena (Rockwell software) or other software manufacturers and find out in their web site. Version 3 was also limited but you could follow the examples with the software provided. Save your money on this book -- don't buy it.