Modelling and evaluation of manufacturing systems using dedicated Petri nets

The design of a manufacturing system requires modelling and performance eva luation techniques. To support this process, a modelling method based on Pe tri nets is proposed in this paper. A new class of coloured Petri nets is i ntroduced, which is Ir ell suited to the modelling of manufacturing systems . Using this net class, the structure and the work plans of a manufacturing system can both be modelled separately. A library of,model templates helps to create large,models. The different model parts are merged automatically to create a complete model of the manufacturing sq stem. Measures of inter est can be obtained from the model by numerical analysis or simulation, sho wing its performance and dependability. The usefulness of the approach is s hown by applying the proposed techniques to a real-life manufacturing syste m.