Analysis of a manufacturing cell under a set of cyclic constraints

The objective of this paper is to obtain a good balance between efficiency and flexibility for Flexible Manufacturing cells with a cyclic feeding policy. The approach presented is based on a p-t-timed Petri net with durations attached to places (wait and slack times) and to transitions (operation times). The routing of the parts and the assignment of resources are collectively carried out to take full advantage of the flexibility of the system. Linear programming in mixed variables is used to compute minimal and maximal bounds for the period and a token player algorithm with backtracking to compute a feasible schedule