On resource allocation in a holonic manufacturing execution system

One of the key design issues for distributed systems is to find the proper planning and coordination mechanisms when knowledge and decision capabilities are spread along the system. Holonic manufacturing execution systems regard a control architecture that is based on multi-agent systems. This contribution highlights the way a proper modeling method - the Petri nets are used - makes evident certain problems that can appear when agents have to simultaneously treat more goals. According to the holonic organization the planning phase is mainly dependent on finding an appropriate resource allocation mechanism. First, the type of weakness is made evident by the means of the proposed Petri net model and then further proved by simulation experiments. A solution to make the holonic scheme avoid a failure in resource allocation is mentioned, too.