Purpose Recently, 3D factory simulation technology has emeged as a powerful tool for modeling and analysis of a wide range of production systems, however, it has been not paid much attention in Korea. In this context, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive literature review on discrete event simulation softwares and introduce a promising 3D factory simulation software called FlexSim and its application domains. Design/methodology/approach In order to demonstrate worldwide popularity and technical superiority of FlexSim software, we analyzed the recent list of rankings for commercial discrete simulation softwares released by winter simulation conference and users’ opinions collected from business software review site. Moreover, several main application domains are derived from a review of the previous research papers that deal with applications of FlexSim software. Findings FlexSim software recently moved up the list of major commercial simulation softwares, and technical superiorities of the software demonstrate that it is a promising tool for practical 3D factory simulation. Moreover, recent research papers suggest that FlexSim software can be used as a component of smart factory system. In this context, it is expected that FlexSim software becomes more popular in the era of industry 4.0.