FUNCTION MODULES DEMANDED FOR PRODUCTION CONTROL IN DISTRIBUTED MANUFACTURING SYSTEM

This paper deals with the function modules demanded for production con trol in a distributed cellular manufacturing system. Cells are the dis tributed components of any manufacturing system. A proposed multipassi ng distributed simulating scheduling system (MPDSS) deals with the pro duction control functions regarding process planning (working-cell sel ection), scheduling, rescheduling, and real-time dispatching. The proc ess planning function aims at selecting a good route for each job. The multipassing scheduling aims at providing a scheduling bidding strate gy in a distributed fashion. The rescheduling aims at dealing with the large-effort change of the system with updating the precedance schedu le to run in a new manufacturing period. The real-time scheduling deal s with the small-effort change of the system with a real-time dispatch ing rule. All the production controlling functions have been implement ed in distributed fashions. A simulation experiment demonstrates that the proposed MPDSSS leads to good results in the following criteria: m inimum mean flow time, minimum waiting time, maximum machine utilisati on, and minimum imbalance of cell utilisation.