A Novel Heterogeneous Multi-Agent System for Production Processes Based on the Market Economy

In this article, an approach is presented in which transports in a production facility are performed by self-controlling and self-managing agents. In this context, the organization is carried out by a decentralized multi-agent system and is roughly oriented on the model of the market economy. It is to be shown that a system of heterogeneous transport resources can organize itself independently and are self-optimized, fulfilling all requirements to transport parts to the respective processing points at the right time. The heterogeneous system shall be represented in this consideration by three different transport resources including the human worker. Different aspects of the market economy are implemented via cost-benefit functions of the agents and in decision making processes. The benefits of those aspects for the overall system e.g. workload are investigated.