Maintaining constant WIP-regulation dynamics in production networks with autonomous work systems

In this paper, a method is presented for information sharing in production networks with large numbers of autonomous work systems for the purpose of maintaining constant dynamic properties when the structure of physical order flows between the work systems is omni-directional and variable. It is shown that information sharing is necessary if undesirable behaviors such as oscillation or slow response are to be avoided. A method for designing the dynamic properties of such networks is presented along with a method for distributed computation and communication of information needed to locally compensate for the expected order flows from other work systems.