In: IEEE Trans. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics; B: Cybernetics, Vol. 30, No. 5, pages 772-782. 2000.
Abstract: Equipment managers (EMs) play a major role in a manufacturing execution system (MES). They serve as the communication bridge between the components of an MES and the equipment. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel methodology for developing analytical and simulation models for the EM such that the validity and performance of the EM can be evaluated. Domain knowledge and requirements are collected from a real semiconductor packaging factory. By using IDEF0 and state diagrams, a static functional model and a dynamic state model of the EM are built. Next, these two models are translated into a Petri net model. This allows qualitative and quantitative analyses of the system. The EM net model is then expanded into the MES net model. Therefore, the performance of an EM in the MES environment can be evaluated. These evaluation results are good references for design and decision making.
Keywords: IDEF0, Petri nets, domain knowledge, equipment managers, manufacturing execution systems, manufacturing systems, performance analysis.