Agent-based simulation for production planning and control in consideration of disruption events

An agent-based simulation (ABS) as a computer supported decision-making tool is presented for planning and evaluating job shop production. The presented approach focuses on short-term production planning and control. It allows planners to design and modify their models by describing all activities of workers and machines regarding operations related to the manufacturing process and tasks aided in the production. The simulated model was used for analyzing different operation modes and control strategies dealing with disruption events including machine breakdown, worker absence, and product defect. This provides an easy-to-implement simulation result through a description of coordinated actions and interactions of system resources. A case study for a remanufacturing job-shop shows effects of disruption events and reaction plans on the system performances.