A Description and Analysis Method for Reconfigurable Production Systems Based on Finite State Automaton

New production systems are highly reconfigurable and interact with dynamic industrial environments. Their modelling, simulation and analysis of the operations and evaluation of performances are now much more complex than in the past when system had a static and predefined behaviour. This paper proposes a method to describe and analyse complex production systems, based on utilization of FSA (Finite State Automaton). This approach is enabling better understanding and sharing with stakeholders of how a system works, but it is also a good basis for computer based simulation and control. The interaction with external environments is structured in terms of External Events (inputs) and Trigger Outputs. The analysis of the system state evolution in the time domain provides the possibility to calculate KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in specific conditions or their evolution. In this paper a simplified language syntax describing the automaton including output generation and triggering of external functions of the production environment is proposed. The approach is implemented and demonstrated in a particular industrial domain: industrial machinery fabrication sector.