Controlling manufacturing systems requires the processing and exchange of large amounts of data. The magnitude of the data is often such that real-time communication cannot always be exercised. In domains where safety procedures need to be observed and where emergency signals are of high priority such considerations are particularly important. Often it is necessary to restrict the volume of information exchange to a minimum in order to accommodate hardware and protocol limitations. The latter necessitates keeping the various activities within the manufacturing domain independent of one another. This practical requirement, however, is contrary to the operational needs of modern manufacturing plants where materials, machine tools, conveyors, robot , handling systems, etc. must exhibit good synchronisation for effective flow control.
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