Manufacturing systems are changing its structure and organisation. Supply chain structure is evolving to more dynamic organisations such extended enterprise and virtual enterprises, enhancing single entity autonomy, adaptability and dynamism properties. Such organisations are very different from the established, which imply organisational and technological shift through distribution, decentralisation, reactivity, flexibility and agility. New organisational and technological paradigms are needed in order to reply to these challenges. This paper present a brief description of three organisational paradigms, and relating to its properties, proposes a holonic manufacturing system architecture. Developed complementary services are introduced and its advantages in overall system new requirements are justified. Copyright © 1999 IFAC
Keywords: Co-operation, Co-ordination, Intelligent Manufacturing Systems, HMS.
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