A Distributed Task Assignment Method and its Performance

We suggest a distributed framework for task assignment in the computer-controlled shop floor where each of the resource agents and part agents acts like an independent profit maker. The job allocation problem is formulated as a linear programming problem. The LP formulation is analyzed to provide a rationale for the distributed task assignment procedure. We suggest an auction based negotiation procedure including a price-based bid construction and a price revising mechanism. The performance of the suggested procedure is compared with those of an LP formulation and conventional dispatching procedures by simulation experiments.