A multi-agent system framework for manufacturing planning and control

This paper presents a hybrid multi-agent system framework for manufacturing planning and control activities. The hybrid framework comprises a supervisor agent and function agents to incorporate both decentralized negotiation and hierarchical control. A hybrid-based agent structure is introduced in the design of individual agents. Each agent consists of a planning layer and a reactive layer, to cope with the planning and control functions respectively. Manufacturing process plans and schedule are to be determined through agent negotiations. Accordingly, a multi-agent negotiation protocol is designed for effectively coordinating the interactions between the planning layers of the supervisor agent and the local agents.