Applying generalized stochastic Petri nets to manufacturing systems containing nonexponential transition functions

Although generalized stochastic Petri nets (GSPNs) are restricted to only immediate and exponential transitions, they are used for performance analysis of a variety of systems. Flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) typically contain nonexponential state transitions. GSPN models developed for FMSs present a concern that the above restriction limits the accuracy of performance results. Throughput subnets and s-transitions are introduced. These GSPN constructs allow nonexponential state transitions in a system to be accurately modeled within a GSPN. A GSPN performance model for an FMS example is developed using s-transitions. This system had been previously analyzed using probability theory. Performance analysis results are compared