Evolution of holonic control architectures towards Industry 4.0: A short overview

TL;DR

This paper reviews how holonic control architectures have evolved over the past 20 years to support the flexible, connected, and autonomous manufacturing systems envisioned by Industry 4.0.

Contribution

It provides a conceptual overview of the evolution of holonic control architectures and highlights current research trends in Industry 4.0 manufacturing systems.

Findings

Holonic architectures have significantly evolved over 20 years.

Current trends focus on connectivity and autonomy in control systems.

Holonic paradigm remains central to Industry 4.0 manufacturing.

Abstract

The flexibility claimed by the next generation production systems induces a deep modification of the behavior and the core itself of the control systems. Overconnectivity and data management abilities targeted by Industry 4.0 paradigm enable the emergence of more flexible and reactive control systems, based on the cooperation of autonomous and connected entities in the decision making process. For the last 20 years, holonic paradigm has become the core paradigm of those evolutions, and evolved in itself. This contribution aims at emphasizing the conceptual evolutions in the application of holonic paradigm in the control architectures of manufacturing systems and highlighting the current research trends in this field.