Until recently, most business evaluations focused on using accounting-based reports and spreadsheets to answer simple "What-if" scenarios. While these tools are useful in providing answers regarding the current and potential state of the business, they seldom prove adequate for developing dynamic, long-range business scenarios. Often the reason for using these accounting-based tools is simply data availability in large quantities.

Today's manufacturers face a quickly shifting business landscape that requires complex long-range business decisions. Corporate initiatives like acquisitions and divestitures, global supply chain optimization, lean, quality management, and high velocity product innovation are under pressure to deliver high value while reducing overall costs. And the ability to identify critical factors and chart out an effective strategy is often beyond management's intuitive capabilities. There is thus a significant interest in using simulation and process modeling techniques to deliver productivity gains while reducing the overall cost base.