Structured modeling of manufacturing processes

The complexity of modern manufacturing systems calls for advanced modeling techniques which can be applied during different planning phases from a first design to the operation of a system. This paper introduces a Manufacturing Modeling (MM) concept which partitions a system into the subsystems INFORM, EXECUTE and SUPPORT and describes all activities in the individual subsystems by the MM functions REST, MOVE, MAKE and VERIFY. Graphical representations of the model structure and of simulation output help to make models transparent to the user. The technique is being implemented using the Research Queueing Package (RESQ), a modeling language developed by IBM Research in Yorktown Heights. It will be demonstrated for an automatic manufacturing line.