ABSTRACT
Operational control can be viewed as an integral part of the design of such automated manufacturing systems as FMSs which prescribes to what extent the system components should be managed, integrated, and coordinated to achieve the targeted manufacturing performance. Although an individual system component may be designed to operate optimally in itself, but if it fails to be properly integrated into the overall system, negative effects on the whole system performance may be created. As a result, instead of merely focusing on the design of individual system components, the operational control designer has to
consider the function of each component as a part of the whole system, examine its influence on the whole system performance, and analyze how individual components interact with one another, before establishing the operational control strategy of the FMS.
