Integrating Planning and Design Activities in Material Handling Systems

该拨款为制造系统控制的“全息”建模框架的开发提供资金。它将应用于材料处理系统领域的设计和规划研究。全息制造系统包括单个单元（部件、物料处理设备或机器控制器），它们根据更高级别控制器（如单元控制器或系统控制器）提供的指导方针或系统范围的约束做出自主决策。实体（例如，零件）和资源（例如，物料处理设备和机器）被建模为以合作方式运作的智能代理，以完成个体以及细胞范围和系统范围的目标。该框架将用于研究设计决策对规划方面的影响（例如，在物流网络中引入三辆自动导引车对部分运输时间和交通拥堵的影响）。除了开发一个有前途的替代建模框架外，研究工作的主要部分将集中于开发一个用于物料搬运系统设计和规划的原型仿真模型。作为评估工作的一部分，将对该模型进行广泛验证，并对其稳定性和收敛性进行测试。因此，将开发一个通用的MHS模型，实施框架的原型，并进行实验，以便进行可量化的绩效评估。如果成功，本研究的结果将证明全息建模框架在物料搬运系统领域的适用性。反过来，这将使研究人员能够考虑将其应用于更高水平的集成制造计划和设计问题。该项目有潜力极大地惠及物料搬运行业，包括物料搬运系统的设计师、制造商和用户。

This grant provides funding for development of a 'holonic' modeling framework for manufacturing system control. It will be applied to the study of design and planning in the material handling systems domain. Holonic manufacturing systems include individual units (part, material handling device, or machine controllers) that make autonomous decisions based on guidelines or system-wide constraints provided by higher level controllers such as a cell controller or system controller. Entities (e.g, parts) and resources (e.g., material handling devices and machines) are modeled as intelligent agents that function in a cooperative manner so as to accomplish individual as well as cell-wide and system-wide goals. The framework will be used to study the impact of design decisions on planning aspects (e.g., effect of introducing three automated guided vehicles on part transportation time and traffic congestion in a material flow network). In addition to developing a promising, alternative modeling framework, a major part of the research work will focus on developing a prototype simulation model for material handling system design and planning. The model will be extensively validated as part of an assessment effort and tested for stability and convergence. Thus, a generic MHS model will be developed, a prototype of the framework implemented, and experimentation conducted to allow for quantifiable performance assessment. If successful, results of this research will demonstrate applicability of the holonic modeling framework in the material handling systems domain. This in turn will enable researchers to consider its application to higher level integrated manufacturing planning and design problems. This project has the potential of significantly benefitting the material handling industry, including designers, manufacturers and users of materials handling systems.