Metabolism in eco-holonic manufacturing systems based on the living systems theory

Abstract The industrial metabolism has been conceived on the basis of analogies about the set of biochemical reactions (anabolism and catabolism) that occur in a living being and their flows of matter, energy and substances in natural ecosystems. This conception determines forms of appropriation and consumption of substances, materials and energy, from the natural environment (natursphere) and the technical environment (technosphere) for their transformation and subsequent elimination, under the articulation of criteria of cyclicity, toxicity and efficiency. The last aim of Industrial Ecology (IE), is materialized when the variety of industrial ecosystems is eco-compatible with the variety of natural ecosystems. The naturalisation of manufacturing systems is an effort to conceive them with variety similar to natural systems in order to achieve their eco-compatibility. In addition to bionic models from natural ecosystems in the field of industrial metabolism, several attempts have been made to design technical systems using bionic models from the Living Systems Theory (LST). The formulation of manufacturing systems based on living systems can be considered as a set of dynamic systems from Bertalanffy’s perspective. In this paper is postulated an Eco-Holonic Reference Architecture for its projection in the design of manufacturing systems metabolism with an adaptive, self-regulating and required variety structure and with a potential toolbox in the core knowledge of the holon throughout its life cycle.