A multi-agent framework for order negotiation in distributed manufacturing enterprises

摘要

Current Production Planning and Control Systems do not in general satisfy the needs and challenges of production networks, as they lack the capacity to appropriately support a co-ordinated and effective communication between heterogeneous manufacturing sites. This paper presents a new approach, based on the multi-agent systems paradigm, for a planning (order negotiation) system suitable for distributed and virtual enterprises. The infrastructure and planning methodology based on negotiations) proposed in this paper, have been designed for planning orders, involving a large number of scattered manufacturing plants, used in different production stages, connected through a complex logistic subsystem. A Decision Support System has been designed around an architecture based on several intelligent agents communicating through the Knowledge Query Manipulation Language (KQML).