Intelligent agents-enabled integrated manufacturing planning and control

Intelligent agents provide a means to integrate various manufacturing software applications. The agents are typically executed in a computer-based collaborative environment, sometimes referred to as a multi-agent platform. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a prototype agent-based platform supporting the integration of manufacturing planning, predictive machining models, and manufacturing control. The agents within this platform have access to a knowledge base, a manufacturing resource database, a numerical control programming system, a mathematical equation solving system, and a computer-aided design system. Intelligence has been implemented within the agents in rules that are used for process planning, service selection, and job execution. The primary purposes for developing such a platform are to support the integration of predictive models, process planning, and shop floor machining activities and to demonstrate an integration framework to enable the use of machining process knowledge with higher-level manufacturing applications.