Relations identification and visualization for sequence planning and automation design

The sequential behavior of a manufacturing system results from a number of constraints introduced both in product, manufacturing and control logic development. Sequence planning is therefore an important activity throughout the complete development process. This paper proposes a sequence planning approach using self-contained manufacturing operations that model actions and relevant execution conditions. These operations can have temporal relations with each other, due to execution constraints expressed by operation pre- post- and reset conditions. The operation relations can for example be parallel, sequence, arbitrary order, alternative or hierarchy. Based on a formal operation model, the relations among operations are identified and visualized with a graphical language called Sequences of Operations, SOP.