Dynamic skill allocation methodology for evolvable assembly systems

In the last years, assembly systems have been challenged by the new market and economic trends, which require more flexible, evolvable, reconfigurable and adaptable manufacturing systems. This scenario has led to the development of new paradigms in the assembly domain. The 'Plug & Produce' and modularity concepts along with the use of agent technologies have emerged to support the development of feasible solutions. Among these paradigms is highlighted the concept of Evolvable Assembly Systems (EAS). EAS proposes an agile solution while establishing a 'Plug-&-Produce' environment. The introduction of this new approach presents new opportunities for modular assembly configuration methods but also brings new challenges. The work presented in this paper aims to address one of these challenges, the allocation of assembly system capabilities to processes requirements. This challenge emerges from the concept of separating product driven process requirements from the assembly system implementation, in specific functional capabilities to enable the concept of 'Plug & Produce' in assembly systems. However, these assembly capabilities should be adequately allocated to fulfil specific product requirements. This paper describes the work carried out to solve the allocation problem of capabilities to the requirements of a particular assembly processes configuration, by proposing a methodology based on a set of rules that are domain specific.