| Technology has had a profound effect on manufacturing over the last several decades. The technologies affecting manufacturing have changed the role of the human operator from that of performer of a manual task to supervisor of a control system. Ammons et al. (1988) proposed a supervisory control paradigm for real time control of flexible manufacturing systems. One of the key elements of this paradigm is the notion that the human operator is an integral part of the control system and should be considered as such during its design.;Human supervisory controllers can effectively deal with uncertainties that arise during the operation of a manufacturing system. These uncertainties are caused by changing priorities, equipment breakdowns, material shortages and other unforeseen occurrences. As supervisory controllers, the human can reset scheduler decisions and reconfigure equipment to eliminate bottlenecks as well as coordinate the complementary tasks of problem determination, diagnosis and resolution. Effective integration of the human as an element of the supervisory control system for the factory requires the development of interface technology to allow the operator to effectively monitor and control the manufacturing system.;The goal of this research is to develop a methodology for the design of a supervisory control system for a complex system such as an FMS that fits the supervisory control paradigm discussed above. First, we propose a conceptual and modeling extension to Rasmussen's abstraction hierarchy from the point of view of design. We then use the modified abstraction hierarchy as the framework for the design of the controls and human-machine interface of complex dynamic systems. Finally, we apply this methodology to a simulation of a flexible manufacturing system to evaluate the effectiveness of the resulting supervisory control system. |
