Towards modelling flexibility limits in cyber-physical production systems
- In the context of cyber-physical production systems, the term "flexibility" is typically employed in an intuitive and implicit manner. It is uncommon for proposals that quantify the flexibility of production systems, and even then, only by measuring certain general aspects top-down. However, as flexibility is becoming increasingly crucial for contemporary and future systems in both production and logistics, it must be regarded as a value- and data-driven resource for comprehensive system analysis. This paper presents a generic model for quantifying the flexibility of entities within a production system, comprising processes, products, and resources. These three entities represent the fundamental elements of any production system, which is therefore conceptualised and presented as a multi-agent system. The flexibility model of an entity is defined in terms of two sets of constraints. Firstly, the inherent limits of the solution space of any singular entity must be considered. TheseIn the context of cyber-physical production systems, the term "flexibility" is typically employed in an intuitive and implicit manner. It is uncommon for proposals that quantify the flexibility of production systems, and even then, only by measuring certain general aspects top-down. However, as flexibility is becoming increasingly crucial for contemporary and future systems in both production and logistics, it must be regarded as a value- and data-driven resource for comprehensive system analysis. This paper presents a generic model for quantifying the flexibility of entities within a production system, comprising processes, products, and resources. These three entities represent the fundamental elements of any production system, which is therefore conceptualised and presented as a multi-agent system. The flexibility model of an entity is defined in terms of two sets of constraints. Firstly, the inherent limits of the solution space of any singular entity must be considered. These limits are formed by factors such as the limitations of the software or hardware in use. Secondly, the boundaries of the flexibility space are defined by the interactions between entities. Such constraints may be formed, for example, by entity interdependencies or preparatory measures for the interaction. By employing these types of constraints, which are both rule- and data-driven, this generic methodology can describe the resulting numerical flexibility space of individual entities. This paper focuses on temporal flexibility models, which are the most universally applicable flexibility dimension, and considers their implementation for products, processes, and resources.…
