Performance optimisation of a CNC machine through exploration of timed state space

Flexible production units provide very efficient mechanisms to adapt the type and production rate according to fluctuations in the demand. The optimal sequence of the different manufacturing tasks in each machine is a challenging problem that can deal with important productivity benefits. In this paper a Coloured Petri Net model of an eyeglass flexible production machine to support the evaluation of different task sequences for a given production mix, is presented. The problem of finding an optimal sequence for this machine is faced with an approach which uses the state space of the model as a search space. Due to the state space explosion, the model has been developed to support some heuristics in order to avoid the analysis of non-optimal scenarios. Proceedings of the European Modeling and Simulation Symposium, EMSS 2009 Vol II ISBN 978-84-692-5415-8 20