Reconfiguration Cost Analysis Based on PetriNet for Manufacturing System

Nowadays, manufacturers are faced with severe challenges to response rapidly to changing demands and meet various customers’ needs with respect to production volume and product profile. Reconfigurable manufacturing paradigm was proposed as an advanced manufacturing philosophy to enhance the adaptability and flexibility of manufacturing systems. By physical and logical reconfiguration, Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) is able to fulfil customers’ needs in a cost-effective way by making full use of the resources currently available. This paper focuses on studying of reconfiguration cost of such systems. In this paper, DEDS modelling method Petri Net is used to construct the model for reconfiguration process of RMS which includes physical reconfiguration cost factors and conjunction matrix is used to describe the production processes. By highlighting the differences in the process set before and after reconfiguration, the reconfiguration principles have been proposed to describe and guide the process of the manufacturing system reconfiguration. The simulation example is given to prove the validation of the proposed model.