A description and analysis method for reconfigurable production systems based on Finite State Automaton

New production systems are highly reconfigurable and interact with dynamic indus-trial 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 prede-fined behavior. This paper proposes a method to describe and analyze complex production sys-tems, 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 struc-tured 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 Indi-cators) in specific conditions or their evolution. In this paper it is proposed a simplified language syntax to describe the automaton including output generation and triggering of external functions of the production environment. The approach is implemented and demonstrated in a particular industrial domain: industrial machinery fabrication sector.