Model of the e-Manufacturing Environment as the Multi-Agent System

Abstract

This article presents the model of the e-manufacturing environment as the multi-agent system. The e-manufacturing system is a joint, multi-dimensional base gathering all required information and providing fast access to data and various analyses needed for a manufacturing control system in a real time. All operations executed at the level of a manufacturing system are related to the appropriate level of a management system, thus it allows synchronizing actions at these areas. Fluent combination of operations realized at various levels of a company system allows to manufacture products of highest quality/reliability with maximum utilization of production resources and maximum adaptation of products basing on actions and decisions made pursuant to actual information from production plant. Applying the multi-agent systems for enterprise manufacturing control system enables automation of many processes which previously required human intervention, such as the inspection and control processes. Creating the environment which enables direct access to all the data coming from the production system and utilization them in a real time leads to a more correct analysis of processes taking place on all levels of the enterprise manufacturing system. Applying the multi-agent technologies significantly accelerates the information flow inside the virtual enterprise.