Multi-Agent System Model for Dynamic Scheduling in Flexibile Job Shops

One of the hallmarks of industry 4.0 is the development of a smart manufacturing system (SMS). These are highly modular systems, with every physical resource being autonomous and capable of exchanging information with each other over an industrial network. The resources can self-organize to schedule job shop operations in real-time. The ability to schedule in real-time allows for better use of the flexibility in part processing operation sequences than with conventional manufacturing systems. This could potentially result in reduced order completion times and increased average machine utilization. However, it is difficult to investigate the benefits of such a system as they are expensive to build as such a simulation is necessary. This paper presents model for a dynamic scheduling in an SMS well as a multi-method model for simulating its operation. The paper also presents a preliminary investigation into the benefits of the proposed scheduling strategy.