Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Switch agent
Workpiece agent
Transportation system
Backward
conveyor
Forward
conveyor
Assembly stations
Machine agent
Figure 3.2
Illustration of the system layout and agent mapping in Production 2000
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,
adopted from Bussmann 2001
manufacturing system, through a set of flexible machines that were connected by
a flexible material handling system (Bussmann and Schild 2001). An overview
of the P2000
system layout and agent mapping is illustrated in Figure 3.2.
Before going into details about agent technologies and how they can be applied
to manufacturing and material handling systems, this chapter will address the
issues of the introduction. The new conditions for manufacturers that push toward
more intelligent control will lead to new objectives for the design of such systems,
and it is important to know if they fit with an agent-based approach.
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4
NEW CHALLENGES
Volatile markets, globalization, emergent technologies, and increasing customer
requirements are pushing new challenges to manufacturers. Shen and Norrie
summarize a number of fundamental requirements that must be considered for
the next generation of manufacturing systems (Shen and Norrie 1999):
•
Enterprise integration
. With constantly changing market and user require-
ments, the time to market is decreasing. Thus, a competitive manufacturing
system must be integrated with related management systems, so purchasing,
orders, personnel, materials, transport, and so on are taken into account.
•
Interoperability
. The information environment for new systems can no
longer be expected to be homogenous and from the same vendor. Systems
may be composed of subsystems, which must cooperate and interact.
•
Open and dynamic structure
. New subsystems could even be added during
operation, which require open and dynamic architectures that allow new
components to be integrated regarding both software and hardware.
•
Cooperation
. Cooperation must be established with customer, suppliers,
and other partners in order to secure the flow of materials and discover all
customer requirements.
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