Distributed tool sharing in flexible manufacturing systems

Author

Tsukada, Thomas K. ; Shin, Kang G.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Volume

14

Issue

3

fYear

1998

fDate

6/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

379

Lastpage

389

Abstract

We present a distributed approach to tool management in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Tool sharing among cells in FMS enables greater utilization of tool resources, but requires greater coordination of tool use by different cells, especially when tooling requirements change unexpectedly. We discuss how concepts from distributed artificial intelligence, such as negotiation, can provide solution methods. In particular, we propose polite methods by which an agent can solve such a problem through negotiation with other agents. We present simulation results for a tool scheduling problem in which polite tool sharing is used for handling unexpected “rush” jobs

Keywords

flexible manufacturing systems; machine tools; production control; software agents; uncertainty handling; FMS; agents; distributed artificial intelligence; distributed tool sharing; flexible manufacturing systems; negotiation; tool management; tool scheduling; Artificial intelligence; Communication system control; Control system synthesis; Flexible manufacturing systems; Job shop scheduling; Manufacturing processes; Manufacturing systems; Multiagent systems; Processor scheduling; Resource management;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Robotics and Automation, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1042-296X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/70.678448

Filename

678448