TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter details several of the most outstanding applications of multiagent systems (MASs) designed to provide manufacturing systems with agility. In particular, to keep the review in line with Chapter 3, the successful stories presented here have been organized into the following sections. After a brief introduction in the first section, the next section outlines the details of two comprehensive models that provide a supply chain-oriented solution to agile planning and scheduling in manufacturing. The third and fourth sections are devoted to MAS applications to planning and scheduling (P&S) and to scheduling and control (S&C) in manufacturing, respectively. In addition, the fifth section presents some of the most prominent successful MAS applications found in industry. The chapter closes with comments the previous discussion and draws conclusions.
Before reviewing the current success stories of agent-based manufacturing, it is necessary to return for a moment to modern manufacturing enterprises need for agility and to the identification of the characteristics of an information framework aiming to make manufacturing agile. Agile manufacturing was broadly defined in the first chapter, and the following definition of Cho et al. [1] can effectively summarize the concept in a few words: agile manufacturing is the capability of surviving and prospering in a competitive environment of continuous and unpredictable change by reacting quickly and effectively to changing markets, driven by customerdesigned products and services.
According to Gunasekaran [2], a conceptual model for the development of agile manufacturing systems (AMSs) should be developed along four key dimensions: strategies; technology;
