A distributed multi-agent environment for product design and manufacturing planning

Abstract

This paper describes a multi-agent approach to the integration of product design, manufacturability analysis, and process planning in a distributed manner. The objective is to develop a distributed concurrent engineering system to allow geographically dispersed entities to work cooperatively towards overall system goals. In the paper, an agent-based concurrent engineering system concerning product design and manufacturing planning, and its fundamental framework and functions are presented. The proposed model considers constraints and requirements from the different product development cycles in the early development phases and fully supports the concept of design-for-manufacturability. This methodology uses conflict resolution (CR) techniques and design-improvement suggestions to refine the initial product design. The model comprises a facilitator agent, a console agent and six service agents. Each service agent is used to model different product development phases, and the console agent acts as an interacting interface between designers and the system, while the facilitator is responsible for the decomposition and dispatch of tasks, and resolving conflicts of poor designs. A prototype system for part design, manufacturability analysis, and process planning has been implemented. The performance of the prototype system shows that it could be extended to include other service agents, such as assemblability analysis, to become a comprehensive distributed concurrent engineering system for geographically dispersed customers and suppliers.