COORDINATION OF DISTRIBUTED PRODUCTION RESOURCES FOR RESPONSIBILITY-BASED MANUFACTURING

The strategic motivation for a new flexible production system architec ture based on distributed active resources is discussed. The paper con centrates on a novel framework for coordinating these resources in a h eterarchical way. Timed Petri net (TPN) descriptions of the responsibi lity-based production plans are associated with the resources. After a n initial stage of mutual communication, positive and negative relatio ns between the individual activities to be performed are established. A set of operators associated with the relations is then used, in a di stributed way, to modify the individual plans (TPNs). Cooperative beha viour is achieved by resolving conflicts and by maximizing the use of the system's resources after exploiting positive relations that hold a mong the plans' activities.