The Influence of Production Networks ’ Complexity on the Performance of Autonomous Control Methods

Autonomous control means the decentralised coordination of intelligent logistic objects and the routing through a logistic system by the intelligent parts themselves. This paper analyses the influence of the structural complexity of a production network on the performance of two different autonomous control methods. A matrix model of a shop floor is introduced and used to model different levels of complexity and to simulate the performance of the two different control methods. The simulations results are analysed by comparing statistics on throughput time data resulting from the system’s behaviour in dynamic order arrival situations.