A factory representation as a design tool in a computer integrated manufacturing environment

The Microsystems Factory Representation is a language/representation with which the resources pertaining to production systems can be described. It consists of the organization of static data, the static data itself, and the organization of dynamic data. The MFR, in conjunction with data describing the processes required to manufacture the products of the factory and data on the demand for those products, provides all the necessary information to perform tasks such as scheduling in real time, simulating the operation of a factory and making graphical representations of it. With the aid of MFR, the same factory representation and computer programs can be used for both simulations and real time scheduling. In this way, simulations will be more realistic and schedulers will have the opportunity to be extensively tested before they are put in use. Another way with which MFR can be used as a tool in the design process of factories is for it to provide data to programs that check the feasibility of meeting production requirements. MFR was developed such that the set of information it consists of, and the way this information is organized, is chosen by the user. A textual representation with which the data of a factory can be specified has been developed, and a program that creates interpreters for a particular schema (organization) has been written. MFR was designed to be used within the CAFE CIM system, developed by the MIT CIDM project, but it can be used as part of other environments as well. Thesis Supervisor: Stanley B. Gershwin Title: Senior Research Scientist, Department of Mechanical Engineering Thesis Supervisor: Donald E. Troxel Title: Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science