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Swarm Intelligence pp 219–252Cite as

An Agent-Based Approach to Self-organized Production

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Part of the book series: Natural Computing Series ((NCS))

Abstract

The chapter describes the modeling of a material handling system with the production of individual units in a scheduled order. The units represent the agents in the model and are transported in the system which is abstracted as a directed graph. Since the hindrances of units on their path to the destination can lead to inefficiencies in the production, the blockages of units are to be reduced. Therefore, the units operate in the system by means of local interactions in the conveying elements and indirect interactions based on a measure of possible hindrances. If most of the units behave cooperatively (“socially”), the blockings in the system are reduced.

A simulation based on the model shows the collective behavior of the units in the system. The transport processes in the simulation can be compared with the processes in a real plant, which draws conclusions about the consequences of production based on superordinate planning.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Transport 8 Economics, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany

    Thomas Seidel & Dirk Helbing

  2. SCA Packaging Ltd, Wigan, United Kingdom

    Jeanette Hartwig

  3. Institute of Economic Research Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Richard L. Sanders

  4. Collegium Budapest–Institute for Advanced Study, Budapest, Hungary

    Dirk Helbing

  5. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

    Dirk Helbing

Authors
  1. Thomas Seidel
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  2. Jeanette Hartwig
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  3. Richard L. Sanders
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  4. Dirk Helbing
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ALBCOM Dept. Llenguatges i Sistemes Informàtics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Jordi Girona 1-3 Omega 112 Campus Nord, 08034 Barcelona, Spain

    Christian Blum (Dr) (Dr)

  2. Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55 5230 Odense M, Denmark

    Daniel Merkle (Dr) (Dr)

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Seidel, T., Hartwig, J., Sanders, R.L., Helbing, D. (2008). An Agent-Based Approach to Self-organized Production. In: Blum, C., Merkle, D. (eds) Swarm Intelligence. Natural Computing Series. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74089-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74089-6_7

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