Hi everyone,
I’m simulating different order picking routing strategies in FlexSim, currently using the Return strategy as the baseline.
To make sure my results are realistic and statistically reliable, I have a few questions and issues I’d really appreciate help with:
How many orders and replications should I simulate to ensure statistically valid and real-world-representative results?
Are there general FlexSim best practices for determining these values?
I want to define a warmup period to avoid skewed metrics caused by an initially empty system.
How can I implement this so that FlexSim starts collecting statistics only after the system stabilizes.
In other simulation softwares, I used a cycle time graph to visually identify when the system stabilizes.
How can I create a similar graph in FlexSim?
I want to visualize cycle time/order time per order and see where the values stabilize so I can identify the proper warmup cutoff.
Is there any way to automatically detect the stabilization point using moving averages, variance thresholds, or built-in FlexSim tools?
Labeling Logic and Assignment Issue
I used labels as follows:
Pallets were labeled with Type
Boxes were labeled with SKU (e.g., 101, 102)
Initially, I painted rack slots based on Pallet Type but this resulted in SKUs being placed in slots with mismatched painted numbers.
So I changed the slot painting to only reflect the SKU
This fixed the slot-SKU mismatch, but now I must enter box quantities, not pallet quantities so I enter 1000 in quantity and not all slots are assigned.
When I scale the simulation to 200+ orders, the model pauses or freezes several times during the run.
Is this expected behavior, or is there something wrong in my labeling or assignment logic?
I also want to track the time taken and distance traveled to pick each individual order.
How can I record this per order and store it in a global table or log it in FlexSim?
I’d like to export it or plot it later (e.g., total time and distance per order on a chart).
Thanks so much in advance for any guidance! I’d be grateful for help on any of these points, especially if anyone has tackled similar order picking scenarios.
