A real-time interactive computer model of a flexible manufacturing system

Abstract A real-time interactive model of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is described, with emphasis given to the system's structure and to the model's interactive component. An attempt is made to illustrate how the model can be used to extract knowledge concerning human strategies at supervisory control of an FMS, knowledge that would otherwise be largely inaccessible. This knowledge is considered essential for the development of expert systems that would serve as supervisory controllers of FMSs.