Scheduling for complex manufacturing processes based on multi-agent system

Process high complexity of modern manufacturing is posing great challenges to production scheduling. It becomes more difficult to build scheduling model based on conventional methods. Meanwhile, many of the scheduling approaches are limited in the scope of application. Therefore, following the development of distributed artificial intelligence, the multi-agent system (MAS) has been considered as an efficient method for scheduling and modeling in complex manufacturing processes and the application of MAS also has been an essential research trend. In recent years, many research achievements have been obtained in the areas. This paper provides a review on the recent achievement and discussed the agent internal structure, multi-agent scheduling model and agent negotiation mechanism which are key issues in implementing manufacturing processes based on MAS. Besides, the methods and strategies of rescheduling with multi-agent technique in manufacturing process are also analyzed and described. The problems worthy of further study, probably developing trend and challenges are presented.