Distributed Production with Specification-Generated Processes

Abstract

We study design support for building a virtual organisation, in particular the problem to organise production among the set of distributed cells to meet a given production goal. Each cell has a certain capacity to store, manufacture and deliver products, and it can interact with other cells by means of information and logistics networks. The goal specifies the type of the product and the volume required. We propose a solution to this problem in the form of a distributed coordination protocol. The protocol is based on an algorithm which given a goal and a cell attempts to generate a sequence of operations on the cell to implement this goal. Lacking the resources locally the algorithm generates some auxiliary goals which the protocol then communicates to other cells, involving generating (recursively) more processes and more goals etc. Although this leads generally towards the simpler goals, the protocol may sometimes fail to provide a match between the goals and cells, lacking the resources globally. We provide a formalisation of the problem, propose a solution, offer correctness arguments and discuss an email-based implementation.