ABSTRACT

Mass personalisation is characterised by unpredicted changes in product design and manufacturing processes, as a result of customers’ ability to co-create and co-design products based on personal preferences. Previous approaches that address such unpredicted changes rely on heterarchical control structures and require changes in manufacturing systems’ layout. However, in mass personalisation context, the notion of planning before production is redundant, hence requirement for layout reconfiguration is frequent and at such short intervals that present systems are unsuitable. This paper seeks to deliver distinct production mechanisms which react to the frequent requirement for layout changes, inspired by naturally occurring self-organising systems with stigmergic self-organising mechanisms. These systems lack initial structural organisation, and structure only emerges through reinforcement of local interactions with the environment without the need for planning, centralised control, direct communication and simultaneous presence. Therefore, a manufacturing system for mass personalisation with mobile production resources, heterarchical control architecture, and a stigmergic control mechanism is proposed. Simulation is developed using realistic shoe personalisation scenario, which demonstrates the system’s capability to produce personalised shoes and automatically reconfigure the layout of its production resources.

摘要

大规模个性化的特征在于，由于客户具有根据个人喜好共同创建和共同设计产品的能力，因此产品设计和制造过程中的变化无法预测。解决这种不可预测的变化的先前方法依赖于分层控制结构，并且需要改变制造系统的布局。然而，在大规模个性化的情况下，在生产之前进行计划的概念是多余的，因此对布局重新配置的需求是频繁的，并且间隔太短以致于当前的系统不合适。本文力求提供独特的生产机制，以响应自然变化的自组织系统和带有耻辱性自组织机制的布局变更的频繁需求。这些系统缺乏最初的结构组织，只有通过加强与环境的局部互动才能出现结构，而无需计划，集中控制，直接沟通和同时存在。因此，提出了一种具有移动生产资源的大规模个性化制造系统，分层控制体系结构和带有耻辱感的控制机制。仿真是使用逼真的鞋子个性化方案开发的，它演示了系统生产个性化鞋子并自动重新配置其生产资源布局的能力。提出了一种分层控制结构，并提出了一种带有歧义的控制机制。仿真是使用逼真的鞋子个性化方案开发的，它演示了系统生产个性化鞋子并自动重新配置其生产资源布局的能力。提出了一种分层控制结构，并提出了一种带有歧义的控制机制。仿真是使用逼真的鞋子个性化方案开发的，它演示了系统生产个性化鞋子并自动重新配置其生产资源布局的能力。