Glossary · System coordination, integration and orchestration
Resource allocation
German: Ressourcenzuteilung
In automation, production and computing, resource allocation is the assignment of limited resources, such as machines, tools, operators, memory or network bandwidth, to tasks or processes that need them, according to rules, priorities and availability.
- System integration
In one sentence
Resource allocation assigns limited resources such as machines, tools, operators or memory to tasks according to rules, priorities and availability.
Example
The line controller allocates the only labeling station to line A for the morning shift and to line B in the afternoon, according to the production plan.
How it applies
- Engineering: Allocation can be static (fixed at design time) or dynamic (decided at runtime). Dynamic allocation needs rules for conflicts, priorities and release, otherwise Resource contention and Deadlocks follow.
- Operation: Visualize which resource is allocated to which task; operators need this to understand waiting times.
- Planning: In ISA-95, resource allocation and control is one of the manufacturing operations activities, covering personnel, equipment and material.
- Documentation: Describe the allocation rules for shared resources in the functional specification, and document manual override procedures in the operating instructions.
Resource allocation vs. resource arbitration
Resource allocation decides which task gets which resource, often in advance and based on a plan. Resource arbitration resolves a conflict at the moment several requesters want the same resource. Arbitration is one mechanism used to carry out allocation at runtime.