An essential demand for future manufacturing control systems is the ability to deal with the increased complexity due to a higher product variety, smaller batches and shorter throughput times. In particular for manufacture-to-order (i.e. make- or engineer-to-order) environments it is generally recognised that future manufacturing planning and control systems have to become more flexible and integrative compared to the currently existing systems. The versatility in order characteristics calls for control systems that are able to evolve in time by continually restructuring their control hierarchies. This thesis presents a control concept, named EtoPlan, which meets these requirements by building temporary and multiple hierarchies (holarchies) of resources.
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