Simulation and Optimization of Logistic and Production Systems Using Discrete and Continuous Petri Nets

The use of Petri nets as a tool for optimizing logistic systems of industrial supply by simulation is analyzed in this article. The application of these tools presents two basic advantages: (1) their graphic/mathematical interpretation makes them particularly useful to be applied in simulation/analysis (optimization) applications, and (2) they can be considered from a discrete/continuous point of view, as a paradigm for modeling and analyzing discrete systems or as a continuous approximation to the real discrete model. These properties are very interesting in a global simulation analysis of logistic systems because their management is usually limited by their high complexity and large dimension. Petri nets are applied to the modeling and analysis of discrete logistic systems in the classical way, using the relatively recent continuization and fluidification techniques of discrete systems for their continuous approximation. This new methodology provides results with less computational effort.