Introduction to ARENA Software

Abstarct

This chapter introduces a software package used widely for instruction and real-world decision-support often referred to as ARENA software. ARENA is effectively a suite of software which includes the ARENA simulator, the Input Analyzer (for input analysis), and the Process Analyzer (PAN) (for output analysis). All of these are produced by Rockwell International which is also a major manufacturer. This situation permits the ARENA team to constantly apply their software to real-world problems. ARENA software and the related suite do not have the full range of graphics and visualization capabilities of software such as AutoMod, MODSIM, PROMODEL, SIMIO, and many others. Also, the Input Analyzer and the PAN lack statistical analysis features in more powerful software such as SAS. Yet, ARENA is comparatively easy-to-learn, of moderate cost (around $20K per a professional license), and can be successfully used for even large projects.