Agile product manufacturing by dynamically generating control instructions

Abstract

Grid Manufacturing (GM) is a new production paradigm, based upon the use of standardized and modular Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS). In GM all systems have a virtual counterpart that actsautonomously, this includes both complete manufacturing systems and the products. The control system required for this approach is based upon a distributed and hybrid architecture, using agent technology. An important aspect in the paradigm is the product manufacturing description. This paper introduces the concept of an architecture where the control of the manufacturing is abstracted from the product manufacturing blueprint. A product is delineated step by step by specific services in the grid. The proposed system increases flexibility twofold, first by enabling abstraction of product's parts and second by dynamically using manufacturing means.