Using online simulation in Holonic Manufacturing Systems

Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engappaiInternational audienceThis paper deals with the use of online simulation on Holonic Manufacturing Systems. Concepts needed for the use of online simulation in a classical hierarchical system were already defined, the observer being the central one. The behavior's differences between both classes of systems are studied to determine the best way to adapt these concepts to this new environment. In the PROSA reference architecture, staff holons were chosen to welcome the simulation models and the observer. An application on an industrial sized Holonic Manufacturing System is described to demonstrate the validity of the approach

Data processing from manufacturing systems to decision support systems: propositions of alternative design approaches

International audienceWith the increase of flexibility and production rates, the complexity of manufacturing systems reached a point where the operator in charge of the production activity control of the system is not able to forecast efficiently the impact of his decisions on the global performances. As a matter of fact, more and more Decision Support Systems (DSS) are developed, as much in literature or industrial applications. DSS have one common point: the initialization of their forecasting functionality is based on data coming from the manufacturing system. Furthermore, this feature is fundamental, as it has a direct impact on the accuracy of the forecasts. Considering the variety of input and output data, a data processing is necessary to adapt those coming from the manufacturing system. The aim of this paper is to present several design approaches enabling the integrator of a new manufacturing system to speed up the implementation, with the idea of automate and systematize the maximum design phases thanks the model driven engineering

Myopia of service-oriented holonic manufacturing systems: the contribution of an observer

Volume 402Service orientation paradigm is particularly well adapted to distributed manu-facturing systems. The difficulty of such systems' production activity control deals with the knowledge management. Indeed, the knowledge is distributed among each entity, which is able to create, modify or communicate them with oth-er entities. As a matter of fact, any entity cannot have a full up-to-date access to all the data of the system. On the shop floor level, a convenient way to implement service oriented manufacturing systems is to rely on the paradigm of Holonic Manufacturing Systems. This paper introduces the possibility of specializing a re-source holon with the objectives to gather the data from the whole holarchy and make these data available to any holon for a decision making. This holon is thus playing the role of a discrete-event observer. After positioning the service-oriented architectures, the HMS reference architecture PROSA is described, especially in terms of decision making. After the decisions were defined, the problematic of on-line decision making in a HMS is described, and a solution of implementation of the observer and of forecasting tools in the architecture is exposed. Finally, two applications are presented, based on an industrial job-shop

Conception et déploiement des Systèmes de Production Reconfigurables et Agiles (SPRA)

Industry is, today as it has always been, a cornerstone of the economy for any developed country. Having a strong manufacturing base is very important because it impels and stimulates all the other sectors of the economy. It provides a wide variety of job, which bring higher standards of living to many sectors of society, and builds a strong middle class. Increasing global competition, rapid changes in the marketplace and the need to create stable companies with profitable plants require the implementation of a global approach, taking into account technical, economic, logistic and societal aspects in the design of an innovative manufacturing system. The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the development of an innovative concept of Reconfigurable and Agile Manufacturing Systems (RAMS) to adapt quickly and effectively to the requirements imposed by markets, customers, technology processes, the environment and society, to ensure that the enterprise is dynamic, competitive and profitable. In this thesis work, the characterization and proposal of a generic model for this new type of manufacturing system have been described using the language of complex systems modeling (SysML: Systems Modeling Language). We have developed a reconfiguration process that represents the approach to follow in the design and implementation of a new configuration. In addition, the operational control of a RAMS has been introduced. Finally, some works developed in this thesis have been partially deployed on an industrial demonstrator within the AIP-PRIMECA Auvergne organisation.L'industrie est aujourd'hui, comme elle a toujours été, une pierre angulaire de l'économie pour chaque pays développé. Avoir une base solide en entreprises industrielles est très important parce qu’elles poussent et stimulent tous les autres secteurs de l'économie, et offrent également une grande variété d'emplois qui apporte des bonnes conditions de vie dans de nombreux secteurs de la société. L’augmentation de la concurrence mondiale, l’évolution rapide du marché, la nécessité de créer des entreprises stables avec des usines rentables obligent la mise en oeuvre d’une démarche globale prenant en compte à la fois les aspects techniques, économiques, logistiques et sociétaux lors de la conception d’un système de production innovant. L’objectif de cette thèse est de contribuer au développement d’un concept innovant de Systèmes de Production Reconfigurables et Agiles (SPRA) permettant de s'adapter rapidement et efficacement aux exigences imposées du marché, des clients, de la technologie des procédés, de l’environnement et de la société afin que l’entreprise soit dynamique, compétitive et rentable. Dans ces travaux de thèse, la proposition d'un modèle générique et la caractérisation de ce nouveau type de système de production ont été décrits en utilisant le langage de modélisation des systèmes complexes (SysML : Systems Modeling Language). Ensuite, nous avons développé un processus de reconfiguration qui représente une démarche à suivre pour concevoir et implanter une nouvelle configuration. De plus, un pilotage opérationnel adapté au SPRA a été introduit. Enfin, quelques travaux développés au cours de cette thèse ont été partiellement déployés sur un démonstrateur industriel au sein de la plate-forme AIP-PRIMECA Auvergne

Réduction du comportement myope dans le contrôle des FMS : une approche semi-hétérarchique basée sur la simulation-optimisation

Heterarchical-based control for flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) localizes control capabilities in decisional entities (DE), resulting in highly reactive and low complex control architectures. However, these architectures present myopic behavior since DEs have limited visibility of other DEs and their behavior, making difficult to ensure certain global performance. This dissertation focuses on reducing myopic behavior. At first, a definition and a typology of myopic behavior in FMS is proposed. In this thesis, myopic behavior is dealt explicitly so global performance can be improved. Thus, we propose a semi-heterarchical architecture in which a global decisional entity (GDE) deals with different kinds of myopic decisions using simulation-based optimization (SbOs). Different optimization techniques can be used so myopic decisions can be dealt individually, favoring GDE modularity. Then, the SbOs can adopt different roles, being possible to reduce myopic behavior in different ways. More, it is also possible to grant local decisional entities with different autonomy levels by applying different interaction modes. In order to balance reactivity and global performance, our approach accepts configurations in which some myopic behaviors are reduced and others are accepted. Our approach was instantiated to control the assembly cell at Valenciennes AIPPRIMECA center. Simulation results showed that the proposed architecture reduces myopic behavior whereby it strikes a balance between reactivity and global performance. The real implementation on the assembly cell verified the effectiveness of our approach under realistic dynamic scenarios, and promising results were obtained.Le contrôle hétérarchique des systèmes de production flexibles (FMS) préconise un contrôle peu complexe et hautement réactif supporté par des entités décisionnelles locales (DEs). En dépit d'avancées prometteuses, ces architectures présentent un comportement myope car les DEs ont une visibilité informationnelle limitée sue les autres DEs, ce qui rend difficile la garantie d'une performance globale minimum. Cette thèse se concentre sur les approches permettant de réduire cette myopie. D'abord, une définition et une typologie de cette myopie dans les FMS sont proposées. Ensuite, nous proposons de traiter explicitement le comportement myope avec une architecture semi-hétérarchique. Dans celle-ci, une entité décisionnelle globale (GDE) traite différents types de décisions myopes à l'aide des différentes techniques d'optimisation basée sur la simulation (SbO). De plus, les SbO peuvent adopter plusieurs rôles, permettant de réduire le comportement myope de plusieurs façons. Il est également possible d'avoir plusieurs niveaux d'autonomie en appliquant différents modes d'interaction. Ainsi, notre approche accepte des configurations dans lesquelles certains comportements myopes sont réduits et d'autres sont acceptés. Notre approche a été instanciée pour contrôler la cellule flexible AIP- PRIMECA de l'Université de Valenciennes. Les résultats des simulations ont montré que l'architecture proposée peut réduire les comportements myopes en établissant un équilibre entre la réactivité et la performance globale. Des expérimentations réelles ont été réalisées sur la cellule AIP-PRIMECA pour des scenarios dynamiques et des résultats prometteurs ont été obtenus