Selecting orchestrator paths in manufacturing lines: Alternatives to scheduling

Service encapsulation of processes in manufacturing should facilitate a natural and rapid response to machine failure or replacement and to changes in required product types and quantities. Such events are traditionally addressed by offline modifications in the schedule of the entire line. New techniques, alternative to scheduling, are needed to address unknown input job mix and online equipment changes. Formal models can help in developing this kind of methods. This paper discusses this idea in the light of a specific modeling methodology.