Dynamic structuring of distributed manufacturing systems

The paper addresses the problem of dynamic structuring of manufacturing systems. The approach presented in this paper is based on the decomposition of manufacturing objectives and the allocation of tasks to autonomous building blocks, i.e. work systems, in a dynamic environment. The allocation is based on a market mechanism that enables the self-structuring and optimization of a manufacturing system by evaluation and selection among competing work systems. The mechanism presented is based on logic relations and constraints. It enables the building of task-oriented manufacturing structures of work systems acting in series and/or in parallel. The approach is discussed in an example in the part fabrication domain. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.