Centralized Versus Decentralized Control in Manufacturing: Lessons from Social Insects

Carl Anderson and John J. Bartholdi, III (2000). Centralized versus decentralized control in manufacturing: lessons from social insects. Pages 92–105 in “Complexity and Complex Systems in Industry,” Proceedings, University of Warwick, 19th–20th September 2000, (McCarthy, I. P. and Rakotobe-Joel, T., Eds.). The University of Warwick, U.K. 652 pp. [ISBN 0 902683 50 0]

Centralized versus decentralized control in manufacturing: lessons from social insects
Carl Anderson† and John J. Bartholdi, III School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332-0205. USA ABSTRACT In our increasingly competitive world, companies must become more flexible, adaptive and responsive. However, this can be difficult in the face of complexities and uncertainties such as worker absenteeism, machine breakdown, and variation in customer behavior. One group of economies that exhibits such flexibility, even in highly unpredictable environments, is social insects: colonies of ants, bees, wasps, and termites. Because insect societies 1) exhibit the flexible and adaptive behavior desired by industry, 2) achieve this flexibility without any central planning or management, and 3) must coordinate many workers, we posit that they may be an important model system for industrial logistics. We explore some of the strong parallels that exist between industrial and social insect operation supporting our claims with case studies from both areas. We highlight issues and insights from our knowledge of insect society operation that may have real practical implications in industrial logistical operation.

1. INTRODUCTION
Many authors have noted that in our increasingly competitive world, companies need to become more flexible, adaptive, and responsive to customers’ needs (e.g. Drucker 1988; Hayes & Pisano 1994; Castells 1996; Kelly 1998). A general shift is reported from the more traditional hierarchybased organizational structure to flatter and more

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