Simulation Based Analysis of Complex Production Systems with Methods of Nonlinear Dynamics

Abstract The most recent, and probably the most discussed approach in connection with systems complexity, has been the attempt to apply the results of chaos research to production systems. But the question concerning the amount and quality of data necessary to analyze manufacturing systems with methods of non-linear dynamics is still to be answered. To get further knowledge in analyzing data from manufacturing systems with methods of nonlinear dynamics, simulation experiments are made. The interaction and evolution of dynamic system parameters are visualized in a phase space. Although human imagination is restricted to three dimensions, it is possible to analyze higher dimensional phase spaces by modem computation. The aim is to discover laws which describe the behavior of the system as a whole.