Simulation-Based Performance Assessment of a New Job-Shop Dispatching Rule for the Semi-Heterarchical Industry 4.0 Architecture

In the recent years, the advent of the Industry 4.0, the concepts of Cyber-Physical System and Internet of Things arises, allowing to shift from a classical hierarchical approach to the Manufacturing Planning and Control (MPC) system, to a new class of more decentralised architecture. This paper proposes a decentralised scheduling approach able to improve the performances of a Job-Shop production system, compliant to a semi-heterarchical Industry 4.0 architectures. To this extent, to face with the increasingly complexity of such a scenario, a parametric simulation model able to represent a wide number of Job Shop systems is introduced. Then, through a simulation experimental campaign, the performances of the proposed approach are assessed in function of different control parameter settings. The results showed that the Dispatching Rule Proposed (DRP) led to a significant productivity increase, showing that a semi-heterarchical architecture may be feasible and effective also in a Job-Shop production environment.