Generic control of material handling systems

Material handling systems (MHSs) are in general complex installations that raise challenging design and control problems. In the literature, design and control problems have received a lot of attention within distinct business sectors or systems, but primarily from a system’s user perspective. Much less attention is paid to generic (i.e., sector independent) control architectures and modeling approaches across these various sectors, which is in the first place interesting for MHS suppliers. In this thesis, the focus is on the perspective of an MHS supplier, who produces a broad range of MHSs for distinct sectors, for which achieving design and control synergy is vital to facilitate, among other issues, design and maintenance. Customized planning and control approaches for MHSs have significant drawbacks for both MHS users and MHS suppliers. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to design, in collaboration with a major industrial partner, a generic and modular planning and control architecture for MHSs, while not compromising the performance of customized control approaches. To this end, the thesis provides generic modeling techniques, a better understanding of the similarities and differences between distinct business sectors where MHSs are used, and draws the boundaries of generic control.