Fuzzy adaptive scheduling and control systems

In order to achieve the goal of fully automated manufacturing systems, novel techniques and tools in many aspects of manufacturing, including scheduling and control, need to be developed. These novel techniques can be recognised by their capabilities to adapt to complex situations, which conventional approaches have not as yet been able to handle properly. This paper proposes a new approach to provide a suitable framework for the design and development of adaptive scheduling and control systems, by incorporating concepts and techniques from fuzzy set theory, control theory, and optimisation theory. This is achieved by the mathematical modelling and simulation of a real-time fuzzy adaptive scheduling and control system for a fully automated manufacturing system. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.