Although it is a general term, production control is more often associated with the lowest level functionalities of a manufacturing system, such as shop floor processes. Shop floors in modern manufacturing enterprises are already endowed with versatile production means (e.g., numerically controlled machines, automatically guided vehicles, and automated warehouse), thus allowing implementation of the many characteristics required for modern agile manufacturing: dynamic reconfiguration, improved productivity, and high operational flexibility [38]. However, by definition, the plant system is for the most part stable in configuration, and new approaches are required that can meet the challenge of rapid, adaptive response [39].

In a shop floor system, a set of distributed or digital control systems (DCSs) is present in order to control and monitor the process. In general, most manufacturing processes consist of one or more of the following process types: discrete parts manufacturing; assembly; batch processing; or continuous processing. The process type included in the overall manufacturing process mainly depends on the products produced. To a greater extent, discrete parts manufacturing dominates manufacturing activities in which integer numbers describe the amounts of products, such as in aircraft, automotive, electrical, and electronic manufacturing. Assembly is usually related to sequential process activities (such as in the flow shop scheduling model) and most often dominates aircraft, motor vehicle, and computer manufacturing. Batch processing is generally related to products following a production recipe and is usually applied to food, beverage, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Continuous processing is more generally prevalent in...