We illustrate the potential of our technique by considering a model of a flexible manufacturing system. The model describes an assembly line with 3 machines that assemble various kinds of parts. The number of parts is variable and is controlled by a parameter k. As k increases, so do the number of states n and the number of arcs or transitions a in the state graph.
 
k n
a
1
54
155
2
810
3 699
3
6 520
37 394
4
35 910
237 120
5
152 712
1 111 482
6
537 768
4 205 670
7
1 639 440
13 552 968
8
4 459 455
38 533 968
9
11 058 190
99 075 405
10
25 397 658
234 523 289
11
54 682 992
518 030 370
12
111 414 940
1 078 917 632

Click here for a graph which shows this dramatic state space explosion.

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