A Review of Holonic Manufacturing Systems Literature

This reports gives an extensive review of the holonic manufacturing systems literature in 2004. After a brief introduction of holonic principles and concepts, a full rationale of holonic systems in manufacturing is given. In particular, an argument is developed that holonic manufacturing systems provide greater agility than their current industrially adopted counterparts. The body of the review highlights the most significant architectures, methodologies, protocols, algorithms and interactions. Finally, open research issues and barriers to industrial adoption are extracted from the review of the current state of the literature.