Agent-Based Production Engineering

Recently, a new software architecture for managing supply networks at the tactical and operational levels has emerged. It views the supply network as composed of a set of intelligent (software) agents, each responsible for one or more activities in the supply network and interacting with other agents in planning and executing their responsibilities. An agent is an autonomous, goal-oriented software paradigm that operates asynchronously, communicating and coordinating with other agents as needed. A multi-agent system consists of a group of different types of agents that can take on specific roles within an organizational structure. It can be defined as a loosely coupled network of problem solvers that interact to solve problems that are beyond the individual capabilities or knowledge of each problem solver. Important characteristics of a multi-agent system are: - each agent has incomplete information or capabilities for solving the problem (limited viewpoint) - there is no system global control; - data are decentralised; - computation is asynchronous. Most research on multi-agent systems focuses on the coordinative intelligent behaviour among a collection of autonomous intelligent agents considering that the group of agents provides more than the sum of the capabilities of its members. The adoption of multi-agent technology is based on 3 fundamental system domain characteristics: - data, control, expertise or resources are inherently distributed; - the system is naturally regarded as a society of autonomous cooperating components; - the system contains legacy components that must interact with other, possibly new software components.