A generic implementation approach of autonomous control methods in production logistics

Autonomous control in logistics is a decentralized approach for coping with rising complexity and dynamics in today's production networks. It is put into practice by redesigning logistics processes in the way that control is shifted from a centralized planning entity to autonomous logistic objects. Autonomous control methods are the algorithms that define how decisions are made by each individual object during production control. Although there are contradictory logistic targets as well as many different ways how decisions can be taken, it is possible to have a single implementation scheme that can be configured easily to cover many different variants of autonomous control methods. This paper presents a generic implementation approach that recursively collects any desired information used as basis for decision-making. Because it is transparent and easy to adapt, it can support both science and industry in developing, testing and implementing autonomous control.