Line-less production system using self-organization: A case study for BMS

The paper proposes a novel approach to the design of line-less production systems. The approach is based on the concept of biological manufacturing systems (BMS) that can deal with complexity in manufacturing using the ideas of self-organization, evolution and learning. In the line-less production systems, all production elements can move freely on the production floor using self-organization in order to adapt to fluctuations such as the diversity of production demands and the malfunction of machines. The effectiveness of the line-less production system is discussed and its feasibility is demonstrated by computer simulation. Furthermore, a mini-factory consisting of small autonomous robots is developed as a prototype of the line-less production systems.