Simulation system modeling for mass customization manufacturing

Emerging rapidly as a new paradigm of the 21st century, mass customization manufacturing (MCM) systems possess some special characteristics that make the modeling of such systems extremely difficult. These characteristics include concurrency, synchronization, and cooperation among subsystems. Moreover, MCM emphasizes shortened product life-cycles, which means production lines have to be changed or reconfigured frequently. Highly flexible and re-configurable factories must be designed, simulated, and analyzed. To support the development and analysis of these systems, new approaches to modeling and simulation must be developed. In this paper, a methodology for representing manufacturing systems using a valid, colored Petri net is presented. This method for modeling and simulating is flexible enough to support the dynamic nature of the operation of MCM systems. It is able to represent solutions to problems such as dynamic rescheduling, shop reconfiguration, part rework processing, and mechanisms for recovery from machine failure. MCM systems must often support product design modifications at late stages of production, and must respond and adjust to these changes quickly, without postponing delivery time.