A hybrid framework for agile scheduling systems utilizing agent technology

Agents are intelligent software objects, capable of autonomous decisions making and cooperative interacting with their environments. A hybrid framework for the agile production scheduling system based on agent technology is presented in this paper. Part agents and resource agents represent both work pieces and resources in the manufacturing scheduling system. Besides, management agents are also introduced as the coordinators here like the dispatchers in the real manufacturing system. Thus, the system would behave as a more hierarchical one or a more heterarchical one according to the roles of these management agents. The proposed framework came to self-organizing system architecture with the flexible and adaptive characteristic, which makes it possible to satisfy the requirements of the agile scheduling. Simulation studies illustrate the feasibility and validity of the approach.