Virtual production control system

This work develops a novel virtual production control system (VPCS), which is allocated on a manufacturer side to adjust production pace of a supplier using a short-term demand plan for reducing inventory level. In addition to remotely monitoring production progress of a supplier, the proposed VPCS allows manufacturers to pre-schedule the latest outputs using an integer programming model, to simulate the short-term plan by a stochastic colored timed Petri Nets, and to adjust the production pace of the supplier via the plan. An industrial case study shows that the supplier inventory was reduced by 13.8% over that of the real inventory level with an order-fill rate exceeding 99.6% using the proposed VPCS.