An agent-based real time scheduling system for mix-flow manufacturing

With the variation of ordering increasing in current marketing environment, the real time scheduling strategies is becoming critical for manufacturers to make quick and correct decisions. On the basis of the complex and distributed mix-flow manufacturing environment, it is imperative to consider the external disturbances on production scheduling and solve the related issues. Hence, a real time scheduling system (RTSS) is introduced to assist manufacturers in responding external signals and reflecting them into real time production scheduling. An agent-based model is established to modularize the defined process. Subsequently, the interaction protocols of each agent are discussed to identify the solutions paths. A Java Agent Development Frameworks (JADF) platform is developed to simulate the presented RTSS approach and testify the effectiveness of the collaboration process.