Distributed Integrated Scheduling

For the Just-in-Time production scheme in large manufacturing systems we describe a considerable methodological extension into an integrated automated manufacturing system that is supported by a distributed real-time computer system. This allows for higher flexibility in demand fluctuation as well as for larger variety of products. At the same time better adaptability of transportation planning and transportation cost reduction are achieved. The basis for this integrated scheduling are new bidding algorithms which we will present. Eventually, in an extension of the presented scheduling algorithms, novel fault tolerant strategies are developed for overcoming or neutralizing the effect of (transient) machine failures. They are handled by the local schedulers and are designed to guarantee a minimal distributed response and its propagation in the presence of failures. Through their integration into the production and transportation scheduling the advantages of the Just-in-Time approach (no storage costs) are preserved in principle while a near-optimal way for the affected jobs is found to still meet their deadlines. Experimental results are also discussed.