Framework for the control of automated material-handling systems using the holonic manufacturing approach

Collaborative routing of products using a self-organizing mechatronic agent framework—A simulation study

“…The proposed architecture is similar in objectives and purpose to the works detailed in [4,5,17,25,32,33,36,37]. However it is rather different in respect to the approach taken.…”

Agent-based hierarchical production planning and scheduling in make-to-order manufacturing system

“…Van Brussel et al (1998) argued that the concurrent presence of basic holon and staff holon means HMS has the inherent ability to allow for the combination of heterarchical and hierarchical controls which in turn facilitates the generation of robust and flexible control decisions. However, most applications of HMS focus on dynamic scheduling in bottomlevel sub-systems of manufacturing system (Gou et al, 1998;Sousa and Ramos, 1999;Bongaerts et al, 2000;Babiceanu et al, 2004;Babiceanu and Chen, 2007;Leitão and Restivo, 2006) or real-time production control and rescheduling in manufacturing systems (Cheng et al, 2004;Hsieh, 2004;Colombo et al, 2006;Blanc et al, 2008;Leitão and Restivo, 2008;Verstraete et al, 2008;Borangiu et al, 2009). There are only a few incidents of applying HMS to advanced production planning and scheduling within manufacturing systems with two or more hierarchical layers, such as the work of Gou et al (1998).…”

Generic control of material handling systems

“…Although this architecture is based on a manufacturing system, it does suggest a framework for material handling. However, the MHSs in the sectors we address are far more complex and diverse than the MHS modeled by Babiceanu et al (2004). We conclude that their study misses an in-depth treatment of practical requirements of complex MHSs as they do not show how decision-making processes can be employed to achieve functional requirements.…”

“…From the studies we reviewed, we observe that a control architecture normally targets a specific sector or deals with material handling as part of a manufacturing environment. From our point of view, the most relevant study is the holonic architecture proposed by Babiceanu et al (2004). Although this architecture is based on a manufacturing system, it does suggest a framework for material handling.…”

“…Babiceanu et al (2004) present a framework for the control of MHSs as part of the socalled holonic manufacturing approach. Holons are units that act as parts and as wholes at the same time, meaning that they have a high degree of autonomy but operate as part of a more general system.…”