As part of my studies in Paderborn, I had to write a "Diplomarbeit", basically a scientific report. After much deliberation and advice, I chose to go for the harder (longer) route of working on a real-world problem instead of a research topic in the library. This was done in the early 90's.

I was lucky enough to be taken under the wing by my future doctor father, Professor Otto Rosenberg. He had a brilliant project with Siemens, the German technology conglomerate, to analyse the material flows of a planned high-availability parts storage facility.

I was given a copy of SIMAN, the then leader in flow simulation. Today, this product is called ARENA by Rockwell Automation. I had to learn all the basics of simulation design, plus understand the requirements and plans of Siemens, in a few weeks. Then modelling and analysis, without much help. In the end, I was able to prove that the planned infrastructure was overkill for the required service levels. In essence, I reduced three pick'n pack system to two.