The FABMAS multi-agent-system prototype for production control of water fabs: design, implementation and performance assessment

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a hierarchically organised multi-agent-system prototype that is used for production control of semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities (wafer fabs). Starting from requirements for modern production control systems and advanced production control algorithms, we design the hierarchical system. We suggest a three-layer hierarchy. We describe production control algorithms for each layer of the hierarchy. We consider the performance measure total weighted tardiness. After the design step, we discuss the implementation of the system prototype as a multi-agent-system (MAS). Our implementation is based on the PROSA reference architecture for holonic manufacturing systems. The MAS approach especially allows for a distribution of the system on a computer cluster. We present the results of computational experiments with the system prototype. Furthermore, we suggest future research directions.

Keywords:

• Multi-agent-systems
• Distributed hierarchical production control
• Semiconductor manufacturing
• Performance assessment

Acknowledgements

This research was supported in parts by the German National Science Foundation (DFG) under grant GM 18/1-2. The following people helped us during the development and performance assessment of the FABMAS prototype: Rene Drieβel, Patrick Rempel, Mario Angrabeit and Markus Walter.