Evolvable Production Systems: Demand Responsive Planning

Abstract: Dynamic and unforeseeable characteristic of the current market and production environment is not feasible to be met through pre-set parameters being dependent on the predictions. Handling this matter requires to keep focus on production system adaptability. Evolvable Production System has achieved fully system reconfigurability through process oriented modularity and multi agent based distributed control system architecture. One of the essential enhancements provided by EPS on the shop floor is achieving minimized/eliminated system setup time in response to changing product requirements.Manufacturing planning and control system, on the other hand, follows hierarchical principles which are quite much reliant on the predicted information so to structure production and planning environment on it. Production system limitations, such as lack of adaptability in response to changing conditions, are in fact influencing the planning system to be structured on the predictions. The enhancements which are ensured by the architecture of EPS enable to relax the constraints on planning system which are imposed by the limitations of production system. These enhancements have an effect at different levels in the planning hierarchy. On the light of these improvements, the planning framework as it is used so far in the industry becomes invalid and this arise a requirement for planning system structure to be designed according to a fully reconfigurable system to be able to benefit such a production system by all means.This thesis targets to enlighten the relation between the production system characteristics and planning system structure by emphasizing the planning problems and proposing a planning reference architecture solution to be able achieve a responsive planning framework.