Multi-Agent Systems: A Natural Trend in CIM

During the last few years Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) became an important aspect in the manufacturing industry. The di erent components of CIM as there are the CAx techniques on the engineering side and manufacturing planning and control systems (MPC-systems) on the operational side now show their in uence on organizational structures and the working environment. Limits and problems of the fully automated manufactory often called the "factory of the future" have been recognized. Two ongoing trends can be observed: the decentralization of MPC-systems, leading to distributed MPC-systems, and the integration of the di erent modules of CIM, resulting in new requirements for the underlying information systems as well as for the persons using these integrated systems. The emerging eld of distributed arti cial intelligence (DAI) seems to o er interesting solutions to these requirements. Especially multi-agent-systems (MAS) have shown their feasibility in the area of CIM. The principles of coordination and communication are central aspects of these systems. Di erent prototypes have been implemented, for example HBBS: a hierarchical blackboard system for concurrent engineering, also used in the area of distributed manufacturing planning and control.