MS 4131

PROSES MANUFAKTUR INDUSTRI

Holonic
Manufacturing
Systems
Dosen:
Dr. Ir. Tri Prakosa, M. Eng.

Mechanical and
Production Engineering
1. Holonic Manufacturing

 Holonic manufacturing is a new concept describing a

unique organization of manufacturing units.
 The word holonic is from the Greek holos (meaning
“whole”) and the suffix on (meaning “a part of”).
 Thus, each component in a holonic manufacturing
system (at the same time) is an independent entity (or
whole) and a subservient part of a hierarchical
organization.
 We describe this system here because of its potential
beneficial impact on computer-integrated manufacturing
operations.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

 Holonic organizational systems have been studied since

the 1960s, and there are a number of examples in
biological systems.
 Three fundamental observations about these systems
are the following:
1. Complex systems will evolve from simple systems much
more rapidly if there are stable intermediate forms than if
there are none.
Also, stable and complex systems require a hierarchical
system for their evolution.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

2. Holons are simultaneously self-contained wholes of their

subordinated parts and dependent parts of other
systems.
Holons are autonomous and self-reliant units that have a
degree of independence and can handle contingencies
without asking higher levels in the hierarchical system for
instructions.
At the same time, holons are subject to control from
multiple sources of higher system levels.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

3. A holarchy consists of
(a) autonomous wholes in charge of their parts and
(b) dependent parts controlled by higher levels of a hierarchy.
Holarchies are coordinated according to their local
environment.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

 In biological systems, hierarchies have the

characteristics of
(a) stability in the face of disturbances,
(b) optimum use of available resources, and
(c) a high level of flexibility when their environment changes.
 A manufacturing holon is an autonomous and
cooperative building block of a manufacturing system for
the production, storage, and transfer of objects or
information.
 It consists of a control part and an optional physical-
processing part.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

 For example, a holon can be a combination of a CNC

milling machine and an operator interacting via a
suitable interface.
 A holon can also consist of other holons that provide the
necessary processing, information, and human
interfaces to the outside world, such as a group of
manufacturing cells.
 Holarchies can be created and dissolved dynamically,
depending on the current needs of the particular
manufacturing process.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

 A holonic-systems view of the manufacturing operation

is one of creating a working manufacturing environment
from the bottom up.
 Maximum flexibility can be achieved by providing
intelligence within holons to both
(a) support all production and control functions required to
complete production tasks and
(b) manage the underlying equipment and systems.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

 The manufacturing system can dynamically reconfigure

into operational hierarchies to optimally produce the
desired products, with holons or elements being added
or removed as needed.
 Holarchical manufacturing systems rely on fast and
effective communication between holons, as opposed to
traditional hierarchical control, where individual
processing power is essential.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

 A large number of specific arrangements and software

algorithms have been proposed for holarchical systems,
but a detailed description of these is beyond the scope
of this bool.
 However, the general sequence of events can be
outlined as follows:
1. A factory consists of a number of resource holons,
available as separate entities in a resource pool.
For example, available holons may consist of
(a) a CNC milling machine and operator,
(b) a CNC grinder and operator, or
(c) a CNC lathe and operator.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

2. Upon receipt of an order or a directive from higher levels

in the factory hierarchical structure, an order holon is
formed and begins communicating and negotiating with
the available resource holons.
3. The negotiations lead to a self-organized grouping of
resource holons, which are assigned on the basis of
product requirements, resource holon availability, and
customer requirements.
For example, a given product may require a CNC lathe, a
CNC grinder, and an automated inspection station to
organize it into a production holon.
1. Holonic Manufacturing

4. In case of breakdown, the unavailability of a particular

machine, or changing customer requirements, other
holons from the resource pool can be added or
subtracted as needed, allowing a reorganization of the
production holon.
Production bottlenecks can be identified and eliminated
through communication and negotiation between the
holons in the resource pool.
 Step 4 has been referred to as plug and play, a term
borrowed from the computer industry, where hardware
components seamlessly integrate into a system.
2. Holon architecture

 The HMS consortium defined a set of characteristics

that an entity should possess to make it a holon.
 These holonic characteristics are defined below:
 Autonomy – The capability of an entity to create and
control the execution of its own plans and/or strategies
(Christensen, 1994).
 Cooperation – A process whereby a set of entities
develops mutually acceptable plans and executes these
plans (Christensen, 1994).
2. Holon architecture

 Recursivity – A similarity in the informational architecture

and communications model between holons (Mathews,
1995).
 Self-Organization – The ability of manufacturing units to
collect and arrange themselves in order to achieve a
production goal (Christensen, et al., 1994)
 Reconfigurability – The ability manufacturing unit to
simply alter its function in a timely and cost effective
manner (Christensen, et al., 1994).
2. Holon architecture

 For a holon to possess these characteristics, its

composition requires certain elements.
 A holon always contains:
 an information processing component,
 and an optional physical processing component.
 These components, along with an appropriate
communication interface, represents a holon.
 A holon must also be able to reason and communicate
with other holons.
2. Holon architecture

 The various components of a holon and the way they

are interconnected defines the holon architecture.
 In 1994, Christensen proposed the first general holon
architecture (Christensen, 1994).
2. Holon architecture

 Figure 1 below shows the main components of this

architecture.

Figure 1: General holon architecture (Christensen, 1994).

2. Holon architecture

 The information processing component consists of three

main parts:
 decision making,
 inter-holon interface,
 human interface.
2. Holon architecture

 The decision making part (the kernel of the holon):

 has reasoning capabilities,
 and makes decisions that control the behaviour of the
holon.
2. Holon architecture

 The inter-holon interface is used to communicate with

other holons in the system in order to facilitate
cooperation.
2. Holon architecture

 The human interface is a control interface used to issue

commands and monitor the state of the holon.
2. Holon architecture

 The physical processing part of the holon consists of

two parts:
 The first part, is the physical possessing part itself, which
is traditionally thought of as a hardware resource like a
CNC machine or a robot.
 The second part, is the physical control part, which is the
lower level controller of the hardware resource.
2. Holon architecture

 Fletcher et al. (2000) developed a more detailed holon

architecture, based on Christensen’s original work.
 According to Fletcher et al., a holon may be considered
to consist of an intelligent control system (head) and a
processing system (base).
2. Holon architecture

 The head consists of:

 the process/machine control (PMC),
 the process/machine interface (PMI),
 the human interface (HI)
 the inter-holon interface (IHI).
 The process/machine control (PMC) is responsible for
execution of the control plan for the process that is
being controlled.
 The process/machine interface (PMI) provides the
logical and physical interface to the processing system
via a suitable communication network.
2. Holon architecture

 The human interface (HI) comprises the interfaces to

humans such as:
 supervisors,
 maintenance personnel
 process engineers.
 The inter-holon interface (IHI) handles the inter-holon
communication. (Fletcher, et al., 2000)
 The base consists of all processing components
necessary to perform a manufacturing activity.
 The base is thus responsible for the manufacturing
functionality. (Fletcher, et al., 2000)
MS 4131
PROSES MANUFAKTUR INDUSTRI

A study on holonic
manufacturing systems
and its application to
real time scheduling
problems
Dosen:
Dr. Ir. Tri Prakosa, M. Eng.

Mechanical and
Production Engineering
 Nobuhiro Sugimura, Toshimichi Moriwaki, and Keiichi
Hozumi, “A study on holonic manufacturing systems and
its application to real time scheduling problems”,
Conference Paper · January 1996
Basic Architecture of Holonic
Manufacturing System

 The holonic manufacturing systems are composed of

sets of autonomous and cooperative components called
holonic components, which incIude such components
as:
 workstations,
 AGV s,
 storages and
 workpieces.
Basic Architecture of Holonic
Manufacturing System

 The individual holonic components have functions of

information processing, decision making and
communication, and also material processing for the
manufacturing.
 Figure 1 shows a basic concept of the holonic
manufacturing systems.
Figure 1 Holonic
manufacturing systems
Basic Architecture of Holonic
Manufacturing System

 The physical model describes the holonic components

of the manufacturing systems and the flows of the
materials in the systems.
 The logical model gives the holonic information
processing and the decision making structures in the
systems.
 As shown in the figure, the production control of the
system is carried out through the decision making of the
individual holonic components and their cooperations.
Basic Architecture of Holonic
Manufacturing System

 The holonic components of the manufacturing systems

are basically divided into two classes based on their
roles in the manufacturing processes; they are,
(a) Manufacturing equipment which transforms the blank
materials to the finished products, and
(b) Workpieces which are transformed by the manufacturing
equipment.
Basic Architecture of Holonic
Manufacturing System

 The manufacturing equipment includes all the

equipment, such as:
 machine tools,
 assembly stations,
 tools,
 jigs,
 AGVs,
 storages.
 Blank materials, parts, subassemblies and assemblies
are typical examples of the workpieces.
Basic Architecture of Holonic
Manufacturing System

 The manufacturing equipment and the workpieces are

required to have holonic decision making functions to
determine their own suitable manufacturing processes
in the manufacturing systems on the basis of their
status.
 The followings summarizes the important decision
making functions of the manufacturing equipment and
the workpieces;
Basic Architecture of Holonic
Manufacturing System

(a) Manufacturing equipment

1) Design and modification of manufacturing functions.
2) Operation planning and task planning.
3) Production scheduling.
4) Production planning and MRP (Material Requirement
Program).
(b) Workpieces
1) Modification of their shapes, dimensions and tolerances.
2) Process planning.
3) Production scheduling.
4) Production planning and MRP.
Modeling of Holonic Manufacturing
Systems

 An object oriented modeling technique is adopted to

represent the holonic components which carry out the
decision making functions for the production control of
the manufacturing systems.
 The individual objects have both the data representing
the status and the methods describing the decision
making procedures.
 Object oriented models are proposed to describe and to
simulate the decision making activities and the
communication activities of the holonic components of
the manufacturing systems, based on the investigation
of the manufacturing processes of the products.
Modeling of Holonic Manufacturing
Systems

 Two types of manufacturing systems are considered

here; they are, a manufacturing system of mechanical
assemblies, and a manufacturing system of composite
parts of civil aircrafts.
 Schematic illustrations of these two types of
manufacturing systems are shown in Figs. 2 and 3,
respectively.
Modeling of Holonic Manufacturing
Systems

Figure 2 Manufacturing system for mechanical assemblies

Modeling of Holonic Manufacturing
Systems

Figure 3 Manufacturing system for composite parts

Modeling of Holonic Manufacturing
Systems

 The manufacturing system for the mechanical

assemblies consists of machining shops, assembly
stations, storages and AGVs, and the manufacturing
processes are carried out by the batch processing.
 The objects shown in Fig. 4 are needed to carry out the
production control of the manufacturing systems. In the
figure, the nodes show the objects, and the arcs give
the is_a relations and the part_of relations among the
objects.
Modeling of Holonic Manufacturing
Systems
Modeling of Holonic Manufacturing
Systems

 The objects are basically classified into four; they are,

1) the workpieces,
2) the manufacturing equipment,
3) the manufacturing processes of the workpieces,
4) the operations.
Modeling of Holonic Manufacturing
Systems

 The Manufacturing system for the composite parts is

basically a line type system, however, parallel line
processing and batch processing are included as shown
in Fig. 3.
 The objects needed to represent the model of the
manufacturing system are slightly different from the
ones for the manufacturing system for the mechanical
assemblies, however, the basic components and their
relationships are same as ones in Fig. 4.