A framework for the development of agile manufacturing enterprises

This paper presents the outline of a conceptual control and communications architectural framework enabling agile manufacturing enterprises. A distributed intelligence control architecture model that imparts autonomous intelligence capabilities of "perception-decision-action" to machines and equipment within a manufacturing shop floor is presented. A cluster of such intelligent machines, under the supervision of the workcell controller enables flexibility and dynamic reconfigurability of manufacturing systems. In addition, the paper discusses a conceptual communications architecture framework, based on emerging technologies such as CORBA, Java, XML, etc., that may be used effectively for integrating flexible manufacturing systems into the overall manufacturing system, enabling enterprise agility.