Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
To remain competitive in today’s global market, manufacturers require systems that are capable of quickly responding to change while maintaining stable and efficient operation. The main barriers to achieving this goal results from the combination of increasingly stringent customer requirements (e.g., requirements for high quality, customisable, low-cost products that can be delivered quickly) and inherent manufacturing system complexity (i.e., these systems are, by nature, distributed, concurrent and stochastic). Although manufacturing technology has become increasingly sophisticated to deal with these issues (e.g., through advanced robotics and computer numerical control), the resulting systems are often collections of "islands of automation" that lack the necessary integration for truly responsive behaviour. As a result, the area of manufacturing systems control has become central to the development of adaptive manufacturing system.
Manufacturing control systems are responsible for sequencing and scheduling orders, monitoring and executing detailed plans, and monitoring system status in an environment that is prone to disruptions (e.g., machine failures, inaccurate information). As well, these systems are required to control widely distributed devices that operate on time scales that range from minutes to days (e.g., planning and scheduling of resources) to milliseconds (e.g., real-time control of machines and processes). As a result, control software is required that is flexible (i.e., capable of re-configuration) and responsive (i.e., capable of recovering from disturbances in the manufacturing environment).
The long-term goal of this research program is to contribute towards reducing the barriers imposed on the flexibility and responsiveness of automated manufacturing systems by current control software technology. To achieve this objective, current research in manufacturing systems control is focused on four main areas:
Link to Course Websites. (University of Calgary account is required)
I am involved in the following collaborative research groups:
Email: rbrennan@ucalgary.ca Telephone: (403) 220-5798
Info Net: http://www.ucalgary.ca/infonet/ IEEE Xplore: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/
Last updated: 23 November 2004