Batch deterministic and stochastic Petri nets. A tool for modeling and performance evaluation of supply chain

Batch deterministic and stochastic Petri nets are developed as a new tool for modeling and performance evaluation of supply chain. It is derived by enhancing deterministic and stochastic Petri nets. with batch places and batch tokens. Batch tokens, which have sizes and reside in batch places, are used to describe the information flow of a supply chain, while discrete tokens residing in discrete places are used to describe the material flow and the financial flow. By incorporating stochastic Petri nets with the batch features, inhibitor arcs, and marking-dependent weights, operational policies of a supply chain can be easily described in the model. A real-life supply chain is modeled by applying this tool and its performance is evaluated and optimized by simulation.