RFID-IMSII Methodology for the Management of a Real Factory Simulation Connected with a Physical Platform

In order to improve the management of a production chain and the distribution center after it, a management system based on Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) enhanced with Radio-Frequency Identification of products (RFID) is presented here. The best way to demonstrate the benefits of using this solution for the management system, is to apply it to a real company, but this can be impractical. In this paper, a simulation combined with an experimental physical platform is used. This work describes the installations that have been assembled in the AUTOLOG laboratory at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) in Spain. The design of the mentioned installations has been carried out in a generic form, allowing adaptation to different manufacturing problems.The objective of this system is to allow the different users of the AUTOLOG laboratory to be able to experiment with multidisciplinary theories, techniques, and algorithms that can be grouped into four areas: automation and robotics, instrumentation and control, production planning, and logistics and distribution.