Evaluating a Holonic Packing Cell

Nowadays there is a proliferation of research into multi-agent and holonic systems. These systems are being applied to environments including production, supply chain and warehousing to increase the flexibility, openness and mass-customisation of e-manufacturing operations. One such example is the Holonic Packing Cell demonstrator at Cambridge University's Institute for Manufacturing. However, there is very little basis for evaluating how well such systems have been built or how they will operate once they are deployed into pragmatic shop-floor settings. This paper is an initial step in filling this void by proposing a framework to evaluate holonic systems with respect to: (i) the performance of their controlled operations, (ii) the applicability of the software and control systems, and (iii) the methodology used.

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