The FABMAS multi-agent-system prototype for production control of water fabs: design, implementation and performance assessment

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a hierarchically organised multi-agent-system prototype that is used for production control of semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities (wafer fabs). Starting from requirements for modern production control systems and advanced production control algorithms, we design the hierarchical system. We suggest a three-layer hierarchy. We describe production control algorithms for each layer of the hierarchy. We consider the performance measure total weighted tardiness. After the design step, we discuss the implementation of the system prototype as a multi-agent-system (MAS). Our implementation is based on the PROSA reference architecture for holonic manufacturing systems. The MAS approach especially allows for a distribution of the system on a computer cluster. We present the results of computational experiments with the system prototype. Furthermore, we suggest future research directions.