Colored Petri Net Tool Suitable for Solving Logistics Control Problems

Abstract

This paper states the required functions for a Petri Net tool which can be applied to various logistics control problems. It is based on the experience gained by the development of a colored Petri Net tool which has been used to solve a lot of logistics control problems in steel processes for decades. This tool has many superior functions suitable for solving logistics control problems. Users can freely define the type of tokens which have some attributes, and can control the firing of the transitions by the attributes. This tool has a user-friendly GUI and can execute the Petri Net simulation in fast speed. Moreover, for analysis, it can convert the network to the system equations which express the basic structure of the Petri Net. This tool has been used to solve many logistics problems, such as AGV allocation control, hot-metal transportation control and so on.