Control architecture and design method of reconfigurable manufacturing systems

This paper proposes a control architecture for reconfigurable manufacturing systems and its design method based on Petri nets (Input Output Place Transition and Production Flow Schema), Service-Oriented Architecture and Holonic and Multi-Agent System techniques, among other good practices. The control architecture integrates value-added activities, information and resources. The method considers the exchange of knowledge among heterogeneous business workflow of manufacturing subsystems in different geographical locations, and allows modeling process, product, machine and device control. An example demonstrates advantages of the resulting control system. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.