Distributed Production Planning Models in Production Networks

Abstract

Production networks can be dynamically structured and involving multiple production sites with different objectives. This organizational structure is able to match agility and efficiency to compete in the global market. In this environment is impossible for a single organization to control whole production networks; thus, a decentralized approach has been developed to manage the production networks. However, the coordinate mechanism in decentralized control is more important to obtain a high level of performance. The research proposes innovative coordination strategies for coordinate production networks by Multi Agent Architecture. A link between negotiation strategies and a production planning algorithm has been developed in order to support the coordination strategies proposed. In particular, two protocols to reach an agreement between customer and the production network have been proposed: negotiation and an expected profit approaches. Moreover, two coordination strategies have been proposed: index efficiency and ranking price approaches. Finally, the possibility of divide the orders in lots by the customer is proposed. A simulation environment based on open source code and Multi Agent Architecture has been developed to test the proposed approaches. The experiments have been conducted in different conditions of workload and mar-up; the results of the simulation provide the information necessary to select the suitable coordination and protocol mechanisms in a distributed production planning problem.