Hierarchical and heterarchical behaviour in agent-based manufacturing systems

Authored by M Cantamessa

Date Published: 1997-09

DOI: 10.1016/s0166-3615(97)00036-5

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: Protob

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Flow charts

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

Agent-based models appear to be a promising solution for managing manufacturing systems in environments where demanding requirements in terms of flexibility, adaptiveness and robustness are present. Although the agent-based approach is usually associated with heterarchical forms of production management architectures, it is possible to develop models in which hierarchical behaviour is encoded in the agents, thus leading to self-organising system architectures characterised by flexible and adaptive structures. In this paper an agent-based model with such characteristics is introduced, and preliminary simulation results are presented. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Tags

Simulation Agent based models production architectures