An integrated Petri net and GA based approach for scheduling of hybrid plants

Production scheduling in mixed batch/continuous plants, due to their hybrid nature, can become very complex. The main contribution of this paper is the presentation of a novel approach based on the integration of the Timed arc hybrid Petri net (TAHPN) and a genetic algorithm (GA) as a suitable tool for scheduling of hybrid systems. The major benefit of this approach is a significant reduction in complexity during problem formulation. The proposed method is explained through a sugar mill case study.