Provided by Cognitive Sciences ePrint Archive
IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 5, 2009
33
ISSN (Online): 1694-0784
ISSN (Print): 1694-0814
Multi-Agent System Interaction in Integrated SCM
Ritu Sindhu1, Abdul Wahid2, G.N.Purohit3
1Ph.D Scholar, Banasthali University and WIT
Gurgaon, India
2Department of CS, AKG Engineering College
Ghaziabad, India
3 Dean, Banasthali University, India
Abstract
Coordination between organizations on strategic,
tactical and operation levels leads to more effective
and efficient supply chains. Supply chain management
is increasing day by day in modern enterprises.. The
environment is becoming competitive and many
enterprises will find it difficult to survive if they do
not make their sourcing, production and distribution
more efficient. Multi-agent supply chain management
has recognized as an effective methodology for supply
chain management. Multi-agent systems (MAS) offer
new methods compared to conventional, centrally
organized architectures in the scope of supply chain
management (SCM). Since necessary data are not
available within the whole supply chain, an integrated
approach for production planning and control taking
into account all the partners involved is not feasible. In
this study we show how MAS architecture interacts in
the integrated SCM architecture with the help of
various intelligent agents to highlight the above
problem.
Keywords: Supply Chain management (SCM),
Processing Management, Multi agent system (MAS),
Bullwhip effect.
1. Introduction
Inter-enterprise collaboration is highly
challenged and supply chain management (SCM)
is one of such strategies through which
individual enterprises form partnerships and
achieve inter-enterprise collaboration. A supply
chain comprises multiple enterprises to
collaboratively provide customers with products
or services. SCM is the relationship across the
supply chain. Multi-agent system (MAS) has
been recognized as a promising technology for
the automation of SCM in recent years.
The goal of this paper is to introduce a new
supply chain planning, execution and control
approach with the help of multi-agent systems
that perform both inter- and intra-organizational
planning and execution tasks are an important
innovation. Supply chains consist of networks
formed by co-operating partners that are
covering various companies (Original Equipment
manufacturers (OEM), suppliers, sub-suppliers,
etc.).Due to Bullwhip effect of fluctuations in
market, the global optimization of the
corresponding business processes offers a vast
optimization potential. That hampered by the fact
that the companies are not willing to reveal their
production data to competitors, unless they are
forced to do so. due to which a global
optimization is hardly feasible today. That’s
why MAS perfectly suit these demands for
global flexibility, co-operation and local
autonomy. The individual projects that are
involved in the research activities presented in
this paper[1][3][4][6] address these problems and
offer services in the range of SCM scheduling. In
this paper, a reference model integrating the
mentioned MAS is introduced including
interfaces and gateways between the systems.
1.1 SCM Integrated Architecture
The basic scenario is to introduce the reference
model comprises a simplified supply chain of a
manufacturer of automobile equipment (see
figure 1). Its main value to assembly the parts
from different suppliers. In this scenario, a
manufacture of automobile components and a
supplier of tyres are incorporated. The logistics
service providers are necessary to deliver the
parts to the producer and to its customers.[2][7].
The complexity of managing supply chains
results in many different interdependent tasks
such as the planning, execution and controlling
of production, routing, logistics and inventory
processes. The basic scenario focuses on
production processes with the help of integration
between multiple MAS. Table 1 gives an