A NEGOTIATION BASED SCHEDULING FOR ITEMS WITH FLEXIBLE PROCESS PLANS

A job-shop scheduling method is described utilizing a negotiation-base d algorithm in autonomous distributed systems. Elements of a productio n system such as jobs and machines are regard as agents that act like an independent profit maker. A negotiation procedure is suggested incl uding price-based bid construction and price revising mechanism. We pr opose a simulation-based iteration procedure in order to revise the de cision making parameters. It is shown that the iterative procedure eve ntually improves the global performance of the entire system. The prop osed method is expected to have flexibility against various system alt ernations, addition or deletion of jobs or sudden failure of machines. We develop a prototype software that utilizes the object oriented con cept. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.