This paper presents an agent-driven approach for the design of factory
information systems. The approach exploits the object/agent-oriented
paradigm to construct a factory information system by networking domai
n-dedicated responsible manufacturing planning and control software ag
ents. The paper presents the agent-based perspective adopted, and then
discusses the generic architecture of agent-based factory information
systems. Two illustrative examples are provided, one based on the hie
rarchical manufacturing planning and control scheme behind the ISO/TC
184 AG N 19-20 reference model shop floor production control, and a se
cond based on a distributed planning and control scheme derived from a
commercial implementation by the authors, of an agent-based factory i
nformation system.