Autonomous entities: a comparison between simulation models

The manufacturing systems, even with technological advances, are affected by factors linked to human decisions, especially in manufacturing systems with a high proportion of manual labour, such as an assembly line. In the simulation and modelling process, attributing greater autonomy to entities generates effects on the model. Such effects need to be considered by the modeller. To explore these effects, this article presents a method, whose name is iDAV, in which it is possible to analyse the elements of a simulation model and the nature of the connections between these elements. The iDAV method was applied to two discrete-event simulation (DES) models. Both models represent the same assembly line. The difference between them lies in the degree of autonomy of the entities. Through the graphs, it was possible to verify the increase in complexity and variability of responses between the two DES models. © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.