System Dynamics Applications / 2 / 2.9

2.9 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING—COMPONENT AND MODULE RE-USE

Systems engineers frequently re-use components known to be well-designed and reliable components include items such as gears, a starter motor, a hydraulic pump, or several dozen lines of code designed to have specific functionality. As system dynamics modellers we can learn many valuable lessons from systems engineers and systems engineering practice. Re-use of components is but one example. The rationale behind this comment is simple: if we fully understand the component parts we can build on them as stock-in-trade in model building. These component parts in systems dynamics are what I call modules, Coyle (1996) calls common modules, and Hines, et al. (1996; 1997; 2000) call molecules of structure (building blocks for system dynamics models).

It is expected that the clear specification of these modules and compilation into a compendium available widely to system dynamics modelling practitioners will impart powerful insights into how our complex world behaves through being able to simulate real-world behaviour.