Architectures and Auctions in Manufacturing

This paper presents some issues which have arisen during the course of a research project which examines methods for operating large computer-controlled manufacturing systems, with over 50 or so CNC machines. Some issues concerning manufacturing architectures are presented and summarized. The requirement for a CAN-Q style design tool for opportunistic, heterarchical systems is identified, and difficulties in building such a tool described. This involves a discussion of the problems of applying queuing theory to auction-based dispatch rules, along with some initial empirical insights into the behaviour of these systems. Ongoing research on heterarchical systems is described, along with the technological advances on which practical implementation depends.

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