A multi-agent based dynamic scheduling framework for virtual enterprises

Abstract

An effective and efficient management of distributed scheduling in a Virtual Enterprise (VE) is essential to make the full use of the manufacturing resources. However, scheduling in VE and the dynamic scheduling issues under disruptive conditions has not been adequately emphasized. Thus, this research is devoted to design and development of an efficient dynamic scheduling system for resources to be effectively coordinated and planned. A three-level agent-based system is presented. In this system, the dominant enterprise and the member enterprises can cooperate to respond to the market opportunities. Dynamic scheduling is performed for the VE. The resource availability is monitored to obtain real-time information so that the schedules can be highly dynamic and reactive. The contributions of the proposed research are the development of a comprehensive scheduling system for a VE environment, and the consideration of real-time resource availability in the scheduling process to make scheduling more dynamic and reactive. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London.