Title: Simulation-based real-time decision making for manufacturing automation systems: a review

Authors: Hyun Joong Yoon, Weiming Shen

Addresses: Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute, National Research Council of Canada, 800 Collip Circle, London, Ontario N6G 4X8, Canada. ' Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute, National Research Council of Canada, 800 Collip Circle, London, Ontario N6G 4X8, Canada

Abstract: As computing power increases, many researchers have addressed online discrete event simulation approaches for real-time decision making in manufacturing shop floors. They typically use real data received from monitoring systems in a shop floor to support real-time decision making, and then the results are transmitted to the shop floor through an execution system. The online discrete event simulation is used to evaluate various |what-if| scenarios and to predict the behaviours of the shop floor. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of the researches and developments on real-time decision making based on online discrete event simulations. To provide a comprehensive review, the various approaches proposed and developed in the literature are classified into four categories: general approaches, artificial intelligence-based approaches, distributed systems approaches and virtual manufacturing and/or virtual factory approaches. Finally, future research challenges and opportunities are identified.

Keywords: manufacturing automation systems; real-time decision making; online discrete event simulation; shop floor monitoring; shop floor control; scheduling; artificial intelligence; distributed systems; virtual manufacturing; virtual factory; review.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2006.008795

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2006 Vol.8 No.1/2/3, pp.188 - 202

Published online: 25 Jan 2006 *

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