ON USING ABSTRACT MODELS FOR ANALYSIS OF FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

The modelling and analysis of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) has been approached through a variety of methodologies, which diverge con siderably in their ability to represent and analyse complex FMS featur es. This paper broadly classifies the chief approaches, and evaluates them against certain prescriptions. Petri Nets and their extensions sc ore highly on the evaluation criteria. a modelling approach is present ed based on Conditional Predicate/transition Nets (CPrTN), which exten d the modelling power of Predicate/Transition Nets. CPrTN provide form al, concise and graphical models, eminently suited for modelling the o ften complex dynamic interactions in an FMS.