A cascading auction protocol as a framework for integrating process planning and heterarchical shop floor control

A new contract net-style auction protocol is proposed as a framework for in tegrating process planning and shop floor control in heterarchical manufact uring systems. Process planning is partitioned into on-line and off-line ac tivities; off-line process planning decisions are represented in a graph fo rmat and used as input for on-line process planning activities performed by machine controllers. Triggered by the opening round of an auction, the fin al on-line stages of process planning are dovetailed with the resource allo cation process in the shop floor control system. The auction process allows final process planning decisions to be based on timely information, relyin g on the distribution of static process planning information rather than th e distribution of a model of dynamic shop floor status and allowing a contr oller to identify all the primary and secondary resources and operations th at must be provided for the incremental processing of a part.