The ANTS system is expected to improve factory throughput, lead time, and agility while also reducing production costs. Project Summary Most factory scheduling systems seek the optimum schedule for an assumed stable configuration and cannot react rapidly to changes in resources. Moreover, most are not integrated into a unified system for task monitoring, scheduling, simulation, and execution. The ANTS project will improve on existing systems by validating a new task scheduling and execution system in which software agents represent factory resources, systems, and jobs. A software agent is autonomous software code that takes independent action in response to local conditions.
Software agents generate flexible, responsive system behavior.
The ANTS system will adjust schedules in line with resources, assist in recovery from faults in the factory and management interruptions in the supply chain, and dispatch work against the schedule, thereby streamlining the flow of material and services from an integrated supply chain. The agents can be upgraded independently as new functions are needed or new algorithms are discovered. The team will develop an infrastructure that can support large agent communities, algorithms for scheduling and execution, mechanisms for agent-factory interactions, and user interfaces. Newport News Shipbuilding is a partner in this project and has agreed to provide the pilot implementation site. The pilot implementation goal is to increase the productivity and lower the cost of shipbuilding operations in the U.S. dramatically so that domestic shipbuilders can again be globally competitive in commercial shipbuilding.