There is NO best software for simulation and modeling of manufacturing systems. Moreover, the particular discrete event simulation package is NOT important. There are literally dozens of commercially available DES packages, e.g. simul8, arena, promodel, simio, anylogic, flexsim, processmodel, etc, etc, as well as free cloud-based packages. They all are powerful enough for most practical applications, all have a similar simulation engine but differ in the user interface, program coding, visualization (2D or 3D), commercial license costs, etc. There are quite a few published reviews that compare the dozens of DES packages on the various criteria.

The MOST important thing is the simulation methodology and the model design.

How to convert a problem from descriptive language (often fuzzy and unfocused ) into concrete simulation techniques?

Does the model answer the real practical questions or the model is built for the sake of modeling in itself?

Does the model help to clarify a real issue (often unspoken because of users' limitations to state it clearly using disciplined logic thinking)?

These issues, I believe, should be addressed rather than a specific DES package.

A library of simulation techniques for some typical applications & problems /situations that can be converted into any DES package is very useful.

I agree with Alexander Kolker and could to add that your model must to generate solutions populations of your problem. The software used must to be able to simulate, graphicaly represent your solutions and, if needed to introduce modeifications. Based on human-machine interaction the most adequate solution must to be selected.

WITNESS is one of the popular software for simulating manufacturing systems. It provides various pick and place elements/modules customized to various manufacturing/production operations. WITNESS offers a wide range of statistical reports corresponding to the elements being used in a model. Later versions also have costing and sustainability analysis features. It also supports six-sigma analysis and virtual reality. Furthermore, it also has a good optimization package that can be leveraged for designing the most efficient system. See the attached file for more information.

Following the comments of A. Koller and J. Arzola-Ruiz, I agree that the most important thing is not the software to be used. The most relevant is the conceptual modeling of the problem to be solved, defining the input and output variables. The generation of a sufficiently adequate number of solutions would guarantee the use of optimization tools that would allow the improvement and / or identification of the behavior of variables. In this process, the intensive use of graphic support tools that visualize the correlations is essential, being the CAD / CAM / CAE / CAPP tools an adequate framework for this.

Much process modelling and/or simulation work can be done with the widely-used Microsoft’s Excel.

Application example ― Simulations carried in Excel 5.0 with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros ― The recursive least squares algorithm (RLS) allows for (real-time) dynamical application of least squares regression to time series. Years ago, while investigating adaptive control and energetic optimization of aerobic fermenters, I have applied the RLS algorithm with forgetting factor (RLS-FF) to estimate the parameters from the KLa correlation, used to predict the O2 gas-liquid mass-transfer, while giving increased weight to most recent data. Estimates were improved by imposing sinusoidal disturbance to air flow and agitation speed (manipulated variables). The power dissipated by agitation was accessed by a torque meter (pilot plant). The proposed (adaptive) control algorithm compared favourably with PID. Simulations assessed the effect of numerically generated white Gaussian noise (2-sigma truncated) and of first order delay. This investigation was reported at (MSc Thesis):

Thesis Controlo do Oxigénio Dissolvido em Fermentadores para Minimi...

i think incremental model

I suggest using Simio for modeling complex production systems. It is a very advanced software where you can even analyze and optimize neural networks. It is developed by developers of Arena to create a much more capable simulation software. It also has high 3D animation capabilities.