Modeling and Synthesis of Supply Chain Networks Using High-Level Petri Nets

Abstract

This chapter presents a systematic methodology for modeling and control of supply chain networks, especially focusing on formal representation and control synthesis aspects. A supply chain is represented as a discrete event dynamic system. The use of high-level Petri nets is proposed to formulate event related rules commonly seen in supply chains and analyze cause-effect relationships between events. Petri nets have been successfully introduced as an effective tool for describing control specifications and realizing the control in automated supply chain processes. The extended net representation of the productive task flows can provide more synthetic specifications for consistent management and control of supply chain systems by a top-down refinement methodology. Software implementation is described to simulate and control real supply chain processes.