Formal models for alternative representations of manufacturing systems of systems

Two separate approaches have been pursued to model manufacturing systems: a periodic process-oriented planning view and a discrete event-based operational view. It is desired to integrate both approaches. To meet this requirement, this paper presents formal descriptive models for a manufacturing supply chain system which can be assembled to unite heterogeneous system views. These models can be used to coordinate complex hierarchical manufacturing systems. The formal description of a system model consists of: (1) a Discrete Event System (DES)-based operational model of the physical system processes for system flows, (2) a periodic review-based planning model for decision-making processes for system coordination, and (3) an interaction and a temporal model for enabling the communication between the two above models. The model presented in this paper can be used to implement more realistic and seamless manufacturing system control mechanisms with consideration of logical planning and physical operational aspects at the same time.