Finite scheduling of collaborative design and manufacturing activity: a Petri net approach

This paper aims to present an approach of utilizing Petri net (PN) to model and schedule collaborative design and manufacturing activities at a cyber manufacturing centre (CMC).

A conceptual PN model consisting of all activities at the CMC is drafted. This model is then simplified to generate a conflict free PN for scheduling analysis purposes. Based on this simplified PN, generalized scheduling algorithms were developed. The algorithms were used in spreadsheets to process and analyze the operation database before finally transforming it into a dynamic finite scheduling sequence in the form of Gantt chart.

The PN is found to be very useful in modelling and analysing the scheduling sequence for a CMC with collaborative activities resembling flow shop with shared resources.

The models and methods described in this paper are practical means of utilizing PN in managing the scheduling and manufacturing activities.