A SURVEY OF FACTORY CONTROL ALGORITHMS THAT CAN BE IMPLEMENTED IN A MULTIAGENT HETERARCHY - DISPATCHING, SCHEDULING, AND PULL

This paper describes various multi-agent architectures, including the heterarchical architecture. It reviews the claimed advantages for mult i-agent heterarchies and describes the types of factories that could u se this architecture. It surveys the three common types of factory con trol algorithms: dispatching algorithms, scheduling algorithms, and pu ll algorithms. It then asks the question: which of these algorithms ca n be implemented in a multi-agent heterarchy? This paper describes how all common factory control algorithms used in industry can be impleme nted in a multi-agent heterarchy. It discusses how many of the algorit hms that are popular in current research can be implemented in a multi -agent heterarchy, while others will require further research.