**Manufacturing**

**Chapter 0**

**Chapter 1**

**Automated Petri-Net Modelling for**

Production scheduling is a fundamental function in production control. It has an immediate and considerable impact on the efficiency of related manufacturing processes and significantly

The primary characteristic of batch production is that the output of the process appears in quantities of materials or lots called batches. All components are completed at a workstation before they move to the next one. These kinds of production environments appear in chemical,

The control of batch processes poses difficult issues as these processes are neither continuous nor discrete, but have the characteristics of both. ISA society introduced a multi-part S88 standard where the first part [1] defines the models and terminology for batch plants and control systems. S88 provides a framework for the development of technologies that not only support control activities of batch processes but also management activities, such as scheduling. This is illustrated in [14] where a generic framework is defined for interpreting a multi-purpose/product batch plant in terms of S88 constructs for scheduling purposes.

In order to cope with the behaviour of a batch production process an appropriate mathematical model is needed. When the behaviour is described by such a model, formal methods can be used, which usually improve the understanding of systems, allow their analysis and help in implementation. MILP based formulations of batch process features are typically used as shown in [12]. Nevertheless, Petri nets have also been applied in different aspects of modelling, qualitative and quantitative analysis, control, planning and scheduling of batch processes [4]. Independently of the chosen framework, the modelled behaviour is often extremely complex. Within the changing production environment the effectiveness of batch production modelling is, therefore, a prerequisite for the effective design and operation

To determine a model, data from different existing information systems could be used. From production management systems, such as Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), data about the needs, product structure and process

> ©2012 Gradišar and Mušiˇc, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0),which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly

©2012 Gradišar and Mušič, licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Batch Production Scheduling**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

influences the overall production performance.

pharmaceutical, food and similar industries.

cited.

Dejan Gradišar and Gašper Mušiˇc

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/48467

**1. Introduction**

of batch systems.

**Chapter 0 Chapter 1**
