Abstract
In this paper, the Timed Petri-Nets(TPN) modeling of Modular Cell Manufacturing Systems(MCMS) was investigated to overcome the limit of batch mode operation, which has been one of the most popular manufacturing types to produce an extensive industrial output and to be able to adopt to suitable and quickly changing manufacturing environments. A model of the MCMS was developed in reference to the actual TFT-LCD manufacturing system. TFT-LCD manufacturing system is not mass-productive in batch mode, but it operates in the form of MCMS which consists of a sequence of several cells with four processes of operation, including those of color filter(C/F), TFT, cell, and module. The cell process is further regrouped in those of Front-End and Back-End. For the Back-End cell process, it is reconstructed into a virtual model, consisting of three cells. The TPN modeling encompasses those properties, such as states and operations of machines, the number of buffers, and the processing time. The performance of the modeling was further examined in terms of scheduling system. The productivity in each cells was examined with respect to the change of failure rate of the cell machines and Automatic Guided Vehicles(AGV) using simulation by TPN.