The positive benefits of decentralized decisionmaking structures in production systems were already discussed in the 1990s. But it is only in recent years that the technologies required for implementation have reached sufficient market maturity to be able to implement corresponding concepts efficiently. In this way, the units involved can be enabled to participate “intelligently” in processes by means of autonomous technologies. The question of the actors actively involved in decentralised decisionmaking and implementation as well as the concrete design of decentralised production structures is of great importance. This article illustrates the importance of autonomy for decentralised production control and shows which performance actors involved in the process have the necessary capabilities to act autonomously.
