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number of XML-based SOAP messages have to be
exchanged between the different operations of the
services that form the scheduling component. A loss
of performance might be the result of this situation.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we described a scheduling component
for complex manufacturing systems that is based on a
hierarchical decomposition of the overall scheduling
problem. We discussed the identification of
appropriate services. The orchestration of these servi-
ces is shown. The implementation of a prototype for
such a component based on web services is also
discussed.
There are some directions for future work. While
it is possible to design and implement such a
component, there is still much more effort required to
integrate the resultant component into a real-world
MES. A rigor assessment of the performance of the
overall application, especially with respect to compu-
ting time, is also necessary.
Furthermore, it seems fruitful to combine software
agents with service-oriented computing techniques as
proposed by Huhns (2008). It is highly desirable to
enrich the multi-agent-system FABMAS (cf. Mönch
et al., 2006) that implements a similar hierarchical
scheduling approach as described in the present paper
by web services. It is differentiated between decision-
making and staff agents in FABMAS. Staff agents
support the decision-making agents. It seems possible
to replace the staff agents by web services as
discussed in the present paper. The decision-making
agents can be used to carry out a more sophisticated
orchestration of these services.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank Daniel Kaiser for
implementing the prototype and for interesting dis-
cussions on the topic of this paper.
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