The essential characteristics of an intelligent manufacturing system are the "autonomy" of individual manufacturing units and the "self - organizing ability" of the overall system. Its basic pattern is a distributed multi - agent intelligent system. Based on this idea and considering the global manufacturing network environment based on the Internet, the basic framework of a distributed networked IMS suitable for small and medium - sized enterprises can be proposed. On the one hand, each manufacturing unit is endowed with autonomy through Agents, making it autonomous, independent, and functionally perfect; on the other hand, through the collaboration and cooperation among Agents, the system is given self - organizing ability.

Based on the above framework and combined with the numerical control machining system, the corresponding distributed networked prototype system can be composed of four nodes, namely the system manager, task planning, design, and producer.

The system manager node includes two database servers, a database server and a system Agent. The database servers are responsible for managing the entire global database, allowing authorized nodes in the prototype system to perform operations such as data query, reading, storage, and retrieval, and providing a public place for data exchange and sharing among nodes. The system Agent is responsible for the interaction between the system and the outside world on the network. It publishes the homepage of the system on the Internet through the Web server. Online users can obtain relevant information about the system by accessing the homepage and decide whether to have the system meet their needs according to their own requirements. The system Agent is also responsible for monitoring the interaction activities among various nodes in the prototype system, such as recording and displaying in real - time the situation of sending and receiving messages between nodes and the execution status of tasks.

The task planning node is composed of a task manager and its agent (task manager Agent). Its main function is to plan the tasks obtained from the Internet, decompose them into several subtasks, and then allocate these tasks to each node through the tendering - bidding method.

The design node is composed of a CAD tool and its agent (design Agent). It provides a good human - machine interface to enable designers to effectively interact with the computer and jointly complete the design task. The CAD tool is used to help designers design products according to user requirements; while the design Agent is responsible for network registration, deregistration, database management, interaction with other nodes, deciding whether to accept design tasks, and submitting tasks to task senders.

The producer node is actually an intelligent manufacturing system (intelligent manufacturing unit) developed in this project, including a machining center and its network agent (machine tool Agent). This machining center is equipped with intelligent self - adaptation. The numerical control system controls the machining process through an intelligent controller to fully exploit the machining potential of automated machining equipment and improve machining efficiency; it has certain self - diagnosis and self - repair capabilities to improve the reliability and safety of the operation of the machining equipment; it has the ability to interact with the external environment; and it has an open - architecture to support system integration and expansion.