A Holonic Chain Conveyor Control System: An Application

Authors:
Jan Belle;Bart Saint Germain;Paul Verstraete;Paul Valckenaers;Osman Ali;Hendrik Brussel;Dirk Cattrysse
Affiliations:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium 3001;Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium 3001;Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium 3001;Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium 3001;Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium 3001;Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium 3001;Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.U. Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium 3001
Venue:
HoloMAS '09 Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Industrial Applications of Holonic and Multi-Agent Systems: Holonic and Multi-Agent Systems for Manufacturing
Year:
2009

Citing 3
Cited 2

A multimodel methodology for qualitative model engineering

ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS)
Reference architecture for holonic manufacturing systems: PROSA

Computers in Industry - Special issue on manufacturing systems
Engineering manufacturing control systems using PROSA and delegate MAS

International Journal of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering

Predicting the unexpected

Computers in Industry
PROSA and delegate MAS in robotics

HoloMAS'11 Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Industrial applications of holonic and multi-agent systems for manufacturing

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

The control of the flow of goods through an extensive chain conveyor system is a complex task. The currently used control system (based on dispatching rules) is robust but does not take advantage of all opportunities. An alternative approach makes use of a planning algorithm to determine the routing decisions. This requires however an ad hoc algorithm and regular maintenance. The paper examines how the concepts and principles of Holonic Manufacturing Execution Systems can be used to control the product flow. This holonic multi-agent approach makes the control system adaptive and reactive and requires less maintenance. To illustrate how disturbances are handled, the holonic approach is applied to a cross-dock distribution center equipped with chain conveyors.