Modeling job shop scheduling with batches and setup times by timed Petri nets

Batch and setup times are two important factors in practical job shop scheduling. This paper proposes a method to model job shop scheduling problems including batches and anticipatory sequence-dependent setup times by timed Petri nets. The general modeling method is formally presented. The free choice property of the model is proved. A case study extracted from practical scheduling is given to show the feasibility of the modeling method. Comparison with some previous work shows that our model is more compact and effective in finding the best solution.