Introduction to Shop-Floor Control

Shop-floor control (SFC) is an important element in managing manufacturing system operations in order to faithfully execute production plans. In this article, the functions and challenges encountered in typical SFC systems are presented along with their evolution from classical centralized approaches to more distributed approaches. An example of modern SFC is used to illustrate the manner in which such systems increasingly encompass manufacturing execution system and supervisory control and data acquisition levels of enterprise architectures. Some recent developments in feedback control approaches for SFC are also presented along with architectural, functional, technological, and human-centric considerations.