Multi-Agent Based Robust Scheduling for Agile Manufacturing

Scheduling is the problem of allocating resources to alternate possible uses over designated period of time. Contract mechanisms use prices derived through distributed bidding protocols to determine an allocation. A robust manufacturing scheduling protocol based on multi-agent paradigm is proposed in this paper. We define all the manufacturing units, such as machines and jobs, as economic agents, which conduct strong robustness against practical manufacturing conditions. A contract mechanism with bidding protocol corresponding to market structure is proposed. We study the dynamism of the proposed scheduling protocol, and confirm its validity by several simulation experiments.