Flexible manufacturing control with PLC, CNC and software agents

This paper reports on the design and realization of a flexible and robust control system, based on an agent architecture. Regarding the increasing availability, performance and acceptance of distributed object-oriented systems as well as the growing number of agent-oriented software it is natural to adapt and use the capabilities of both object-oriented and agent-oriented software as a platform for distributed industrial applications. The agent-oriented software components are implemented as intelligent add-ons to conventional PLC and CNC control equipment as well as Industrial PCs operating under Windows NT and interfacing via DCOM and Ethernet. It is used for the control of a flexible manufacturing system cylinder head production at DaimlerChrysler, Germany. Similar known systems are in research status only. The results of a 2 (and partly 3) shift production since more than one year are outstanding: k-factor of 0.89 by tolerating failed machines, production of specific, none pre-planned workpieces.