n interviews, we often introduce dynamic simulation as a crystal ball. It is a tool that enables you to see the future of your business, whether you are verifying the functionality of the new production concept model or the business processes within the team.

In these times of IoT, Industry 4.0, globalization, as well as the ever-accelerating pace of business and technology, it is necessary to put the maximum emphasis on making the right decisions. And the right decision-making is strategic decision making. You, as the boss of the company or its manager, must clearly know what to do and what the consequences will be. Today, many people often have a, so to speak, punk attitude in businesses. But there is a tool, such as a digital crystal ball, that will not only let you see the future, but also clearly see the response to your actions in different scenarios.

The tool is dynamic simulation, which we’ve written about a number of times. We often mention its application in production or logistics, but it should be remembered that it can be used in other areas as well. It will also find widespread use, and maybe especially, in business management and in general, in strategic decision-making of the top management, who can simulate internal processes through simulation models in Witness application, for instance, and subsequently verify their applicability in practice.

The result will not be a trial-and-error process or some management prediction verification, but a clearly and precisely proven method that will only be put into operation.

Today, a number of leading companies and especially board members already use predictive simulation models to recognize business opportunities and take simulation as a tactical tool for their competitive advantage. Thanks to simulations, they are able to model their own dynamic business plan themselves and monitor its impact on production and sales far ahead and with perfect accuracy. At the same time, through dynamic simulation, they can build action business plans and examine in detail what internal processes will need their attention, so that it all leads to even greater financial stability and prosperity.

Therefore, as a result of your new business model verified through Witness dynamic simulation, you will have a clear picture of a strategic and flexible model that can not only be validated over time, but also successfully replicated to other sectors of your business. Simply, the meaning of the word strategic decision will take on a new dimension with dynamic simulation.

And even though dynamic simulation has been and is being utilized primarily to validate production processes, its use among board members, who have made it a powerful tool for strategic decision making and verifying the future ROI of planned investments, is increasing.

Hayward Tyler as a Practical Case of Strategic Decision-Making Using Dynamic Simulation

Speaking realistically, Hayward Tyler, one of the world’s leading suppliers of electric motors and pumps for the oil and gas market, as well as nuclear, industrial and chemical markets, uses predictive simulation to plan its ambitious business growth strategy.

In Hayward Tyler, the main planning software used to be classic Excel. Taking into account the planned changes that had to be made, the company’s management team clearly concluded that Excel as a planning and modeling tool was no longer enough to accommodate and reflect on the planned changes, which needed to be dramatic.

“The company needed to be a little more prudent to get an idea of what the enterprise could look like in 5-10 years, what opportunities it could create in the future and how its activities would develop during that period. However, most of all, we needed to understand what the best timing for their key investments would be,” one of its managers describing the state of the company.

“We are an extremely dynamic company and therefore, we needed solutions that can be put into operation very quickly,” said Martin Clocherty, Hayward Tyler’s Production Systems Director. “When we saw the level on which the predictive simulation is capable of figuring things out, we immediately purchased the WITNESS software, installed it and created a meaningful model, thanks to which the creation of our primary plan was only a question of several months.”

“WITNESS is a very powerful tool that can generate a full-year simulation in a matter of seconds, giving us a clear idea of what business processes and resources are needed in order to meet future demand.”

Virtual Factory

With Lanner Witness, the company has managed to create a test model of a complete virtual power plant, where all the changes and scenarios could be simulated in detail and then in practice, put in a fully functional process. The model pointed to the specific requirements needed to meet the demand and maximize profits. The simulation has taken several factors that could affect the factory’s capacity and performance into account, including its distribution, equipment requirements, shift changes and potential growth and decline in demand.

The whole plan created with the dynamic simulation in Witness was introduced to the workforce and subcontractors, and Hayward Tyler has significantly helped with getting the investors’ involved in the process.

“The proof of our success is that our CEO has ordered for the simulation to be used as a basis for planning for our other devices as well, so we’re going to extend the scope of predictive simulation to the entire organization – starting with our operations in America.”

We also describe the entire Hayward Tyler virtual factory case study in another blog post.

Do you have problems imagining how to use dynamic simulation to strategically manage your business?  At a meeting, we will be happy to show you the specific solutions we have come up with using Witness.