Automatic Structured Decomposition of Manufacturing Actions in an Agent-Based Manufacturing System

Abstract

This paper describes how products definitions can be automatically decomposed, to be able to utilize a group of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems that offer generic and standardized services. This approach is performed by an agent-based architecture where all systems, both products and manufacturing systems, have an agent that represents them. This is seen as a new manufacturing paradigm, called Grid Manufacturing. Grids can ideally be set up in such a way that a range of products can be produced dynamically and in parallel, depending on the demand the logistic systems might even be configured in such a way that products can move freely between manufacturing systems to offer more flexibility. This paper describes the necessary steps for the decomposition of the product definition, the manufacturing process and the involved architecture. The chosen platforms to perform these tasks are Multi Agent Systems and Robot Operating System, to create a hybrid architecture that fully utilizes performance, stability and the dynamic behavior of these distributed platforms. As a result the manufacturing systems can easily be adapted to the current product demand, which shortens the time to market for new products and makes it easier to scale the production means. This is especially interesting for high mix, low volume production, which is becoming more important in the high-tech and creative industry.