Week of January 12, 1998 Feature Article Deneb Employs Agents for Virtual Manufacturing Project Deneb Robotics Inc. (Auburn Hills, Mich.; www.deneb.com), a supplier of virtual manufacturing and virtual prototyping software, has been awarded a $2.3 million, two-year Advanced Technology Program (ATP) contract from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Through this project, called Agent Network for Task Scheduling (ANTS) and Execution, Deneb proposes to improve on existing factory scheduling systems by validating a new task scheduling and execution system in which intelligent software agents represent factory resources, systems and jobs. The ANTS system is expected to improve factory throughput, lead time and agility, while also reducing production costs. Most factory scheduling systems seek the optimum schedule for an assumed stable configuration and cannot react rapidly to changes in resources. Moreover, most are not integrated into a unified system for task monitoring, scheduling, simulation and execution. Deneb proposes to improve on existing systems by incorporating intelligent agents. An intelligent agent is autonomous software code that takes independent action in response to local conditions. Such agents generate flexible, responsive system behavior. The proposed ANTS system would continuously adapt to new conditions rather than simply finding an optimum schedule, which is meaningless in a dynamic environment. The ANTS system would adjust schedules in line with resources, assist in recovery from faults in the factory and management interruptions in the supply chain, and dispatch work against the schedule, thereby streamlining the flow of material and services from an integrated supply chain. It will be opportunity-based rather than some of the new constraint-based scheduling systems. The agents can be upgraded independently as new functions are needed or new algorithms are discovered. The technical challenge is to integrate four prototype technologies: an agent-based symmetrical scheduling architecture (in which all aspects of the factory are represented as agents), market-based mechanisms for agent coordination, algorithms for response to varying demand, and independent scheduling for different parts of the factory. Deneb will develop an infrastructure that can support large agent communities, algorithms for scheduling and execution, mechanisms for agent-factory interactions, and user interfaces. Newport News Shipbuilding is a partner in this project and has agreed to provide the pilot implementation site. The ANTS system is expected to improve factory throughput by dynamically allocating resources based on cost/delivery-based algorithms, reduce lead times, increase labor and equipment utilization, and provide the agility necessary for the evolving mass customization market. The pilot implementation hopes to dramatically increase the productivity and lower the cost of shipbuilding operations in the U.S. so that domestic shipbuilder can again be globally competitive in commercial shipbuilding. Other initial target markets for the ANTS system include the aerospace industry, testing laboratories and medical clinics. The Manufacturing Report © Copyright 1997, 1998 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. E-mail Editorial Dept: tmr-editorial@lionhrtpub.com Lionheart Publishing, Inc. 2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com Web Design by Premier Web Designs E-mail: lionwebmaster@preweb.com