Performance analysis of a multi-agent scheduling and control system under manufacturing disturbances

Abstract

This paper is concerned with evaluating the performance of alternative multi-agent approaches to manufacturing planning and control. In order to separate the influence of ‘control algorithm’ from that of ‘control architecture’, a simple local control algorithm is chosen as a common starting point for developing the agent-based system. Two sets of experiments are then reported to evaluate how changes in individual agent characteristics can affect the control system's flexibility and adaptability against disturbances. These experiments show that the manufacturing and control system performance is not affected by architecture if the control algorithm remains fixed, however, altering the characteristics of the control system decision-makers influences both systems’ performance.

Keywords:

• multi-agent control architectures
• object-oriented analysis and design
• manufacturing

Acknowledgments

Robert W. Brennan is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Director of the Manufacturing Program at The University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His research interests include distributed real-time control of manufacturing systems, modelling and analysis of manufacturing systems, and manufacturing control architectures. He holds BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Calgary. He has over seven years of industrial experience in project management and control systems and is a Professional Engineer and a member of SME, IIE, IEEE, and INFORMS.

William O is project engineer at Verity Inc. His interests object-oriented analysis and design and holonic manufacturing. He holds an MSc candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Calgary.