Track: Simulation Competition

Abstract

Nowadays, internet of things (IoT) is considered a new generation of internet technology. IoT is a system of interrelated computing devices that can transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. This paper investigates the adoption of such technology in one of the leading chains of Saudi retail pharmacies (Al-Nahdi). Currently, Al-Nahdi has an approximate annual cost of SR 250,000 due to the refrigerator's failure. Installing IoT sensors was one of the proposed solutions to reduce such cost. The objective of this study is to examine the feasibility of utilizing IoT by calculating the return on investment (ROI) of IoT technology. Agent-based simulation (ABM) is used to simulate the refrigerators' behaviors of 30 branches of Al-Nahdi. Two different levels of IoT are examined. ROI is calculated for the IoT project to determine its profitability. The simulation results show a slight reduction in the total cost by applying the first level of IoT while the second level of IoT shows magnificent improvement.