Simulation methods for production programming

The main body of the paper is devoting to reporting an investigation designed to solve selected problems of production programming with a help of a computer simulation. The Ek_An_ – computer experimental environment with a DEF company simulation model incorporated was used as a main exploratory tool. The special version of Ek_An_ environment’s interface, i.e. Ek_An_Pro was designed to improve carrying out tests in form of incremental simulation and “what-if” scenario. In particular simulation was applied to calculate: suitable assortment structure of production, break-even point, prices of products and to select a way for investment financing. The dynamic relations between production orders, raw material orders, prices of products and resulted values of goal function (net profit) were investigated in details. The obtained results were presented in form of tabular statements and multidimensional charts. In the final conclusions it was suggested that the properly designed simulation experiments make it possible to determine a set of decision variables that led to satisfactory values of a goal function.