Distributed task scheduling

Abstract

Proposes an architecture for manufacturing enterprises based on the holonic concept. The main advantage of this approach is the decentralised, distributed nature of the system as well as its heterarchic organisation as opposed to the rigid hierarchic and centralised nature of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). The system models products, resources and tasks and the planning, scheduling and order management functions of the enterprise. A negotiation protocol is defined for task assignment that is an extension of the contract net protocol. The protocol is based on the task-resource abstraction and is suited for negotiation in several situations not only for the dynamic scheduling of manufacturing orders. The negotiation protocol is able to handle exceptions such as machine breakdowns and rush orders.