How do I Simulate Equipment Failure?

A resource, such as a machine, fails during the simulation.

Suggested Technique

1. Select the resource for which you want to define random failure.
2. In the properties dialog, click on the Availability tab and select the Time option button.
3. Enter the appropriate distributions in the Time between interruptions (the time between failure) and the Interruption time (the repair time) fields.

Example: A copy machine breaks down at random intervals between 5 and 115 hours. The repair takes between 1 and 11 hours.

TO DO: Enter the distributions as shown above in the appropriate fields.

 If the time defined in the activity or routing where the resource is being used is lengthy, you may want to break up the activity or routing into smaller steps to allow for possible equipment failure, since the resource will not go down until the current activity or routing has freed it. Therefore, modeling equipment failure becomes more statistically significant over multiple replications.