Coordination of order and production policy in buyer–vendor chain using PROSA Holonic architecture

Supply chain (SC) coordination can be pursued by adopting a centralized or decentralized decision-making approach. In recent years, new software architecture for managing the supply chain at the tactical and operational levels has emerged. It views the supply chain as a set of intelligent software agents, each responsible to perform one or more activities in the supply chain while interacting and negotiating with other agents in the planning and execution of these responsibilities. This paper describes a practical system framework for coordination activities in a buyer–vendor chain to determine the best decision making in the chain using the holonic paradigm. In the present article, while reference is made to the holonic paradigm, its related concepts as well as the implementation aspects of the mentioned paradigm within a supply chain are discussed. Throughout the article, as we try to cast light on the Product-Resource-Order-Staff Architecture of this approach, attention is paid to the operational advancements of the model in order for the model to be responsive to the needs of coordination of product and information flows within a buyer–vendor chain under present stochastic environments. The proposed holonic model in this article makes use of intelligent agents and mathematical models to build decision-making models in the proposed holons, as well as solution algorithms, negotiation mechanisms, and coordination-expanded policies in the mentioned architecture. Numerical studies are also provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed models and methods.     

A multiagent supply chain planning and coordination architecture

A supply chain is a worldwide network of suppliers, manufactures, warehouses, distribution centers and retailers through which raw materials are acquired, transformed and delivered to customers. In recent years, a new system approach for managing the supply chain at the tactical and operational levels has emerged. It views a supply chain as composed of a set of intelligent (software) agents, who are responsible for one or more activities and interacting with other related agents in planning and executing their responsibilities. This paper presents a multiagent architecture of supply chain integration. Agents coordination using extended contract net protocol is discussed. Two types of bidding approaches, i.e., the customizing-type and webbing-type are introduced into the multiagent supply chain system. Finally, a heuristics and two programming models for the planning and coordination of demand-driven supply chains are suggested.     

Study on multi-agent-based agile supply chain management

In a worldwide network of suppliers, factories, warehouses, distribution centres and retailers, the supply chain plays a very important role in the acquisition, transformation, and delivery of raw materials and products. One of the most important characteristics of agile supply chain is the ability to reconfigure dynamically and quickly according to demand changes in the market. In this paper, concepts and characteristics of an agile supply chain are discussed and the agile supply chain is regarded as one of the pivotal technologies of agile manufacture based on dynamic alliance. Also, the importance of coordination in supply chain is emphasised and a general architecture of agile supply chain management is presented based on a multi-agent theory, in which the supply chain is managed by a set of intelligent agents for one or more activities. The supply chain management system functions are to coordinate its agents. Agent functionalities and responsibilities are defined respectively, and a contract net protocol joint with case-based reasoning for coordination and an algorithm for task allocation is presented.     

Creating agile supply chains

An agile business needs an agile supply chain. Quick response to customer demand, the ability to customise and the need to provide multiple variants for profitable customer niches are all increasingly required by many companies. Yet as manufacturers inexorably move their sourcing of components and low value-added operations offshore, to lower cost countries, so their supply chains increase in both distance and complexity. Many companies are faced with the challenge of providing an agile response to customers and yet operating a lean operation across an extended global supply chain. This is a challenge that needs a solution beyond the abilities of simply judgement, the telephone and spreadsheets. Companies need to utilise the power of Internet-enabled software to provide visibility across their global supply chain and to help them optimise it. In particular the new generation of supply chain optimisation software offers companies the ability to gain visibility and optimisation across their supply chains, at significantly reduced ownership costs compared to earlier systems     

可重构的敏捷供应链管理系统

提出的敏捷供应链系统以供应链基本功能体为核心，建立了一套基于组件技术、代理技术和工作流技术的供应链敏捷化配置工具，可方便地对供应链中的商务流程进行编辑、重组，实现企业业务流程和功能的规范化和敏捷化，以可重用组件实现GUI前台重构，以多代理协同机制实现后台过程重组，较好地实现了供应链管理敏捷化的目标。     

面向制造业的供需链管理集成框架研究

由于经济和技术的发展,供需链间的竞争趋于激烈并将成为21世纪的主要竞争形式。企业间的信息共享和敏捷供需链的快速动态重组,都对供需链系统分布、异构的特性提出了特殊要求。本文基于代理的思想,采用WEB和CORBA技术,设计了一个市场驱动的通用的供需链集成平台,并完成了8个代理设计,节点企业在获得授权后在对象模型的基础上遵循CORBA规范对其Legacy系统进行封装形成适配器,便可加入和退出供需链。     

基于状态维修的开放系统研究与实现

为解决基于状态维修系统间硬件和软件组件的交互和集成、基于状态维修系统组件的快速开发、系统组件的灵活更新和维护费用的节约等问题,开发了一个基于状态维修的开放系统架构,该架构的核心是对分布式基于状态维修软件结构模型的定义。首先定义了分布式基于状态维修软件结构模型,然后论述了分布式基于状态维修网络平台的实现,最后给出了基于状态维修软件结构模型验证的实例。     

基于供应链的物流服务能力构成要素及评价方法研究

为使供应链企业有效她认识和管理面向客户的物流能力，提出了供应链物流服务能力的构成要素与评价方法。首先，按照服务对象和评价角度的不同，将供应链物流能力分为外部物流能力与内部物流能力，并进行了简要分析，进而明确物流服务能力是面向客户的外部物流能力。然后按照要素性质分类的方法，构建了供应链物流服务能力的要素体系，并以此为基础，深入分析物流服务能力的主要特性。最后，利用客户满意与物流能力的正相关关系，以及模糊集等理论方法，为供应链企业提出了一种面向客户满意的供应链物流服务能力的基础评价方法。     

Decentralised production-distribution planning system using collaborative agents in supply chain network

With the fast development of information technology and the global market, collaboration between different functional units in a supply chain becomes one of the most critical factors for global companies to respond to rapid changes in customer needs and increase the efficiency of the whole supply chain. This supply chain environment requires a production-distribution planning system to enable the collaboration between production and distribution units more quickly and orderly. Generally, collaboration in a supply chain needs to resolve conflicts between two decentralised functional units, because each unit tries to locally minimise its own costs, not the overall supply chain costs. Also, there exists incomplete information sharing according to the information privacy of each functional unit. This paper proposes a decentralised production-distribution planning system using collaborative agents that can efficiently mediate the planning gaps between two decentralised planning functions: production and distribution. The validity of collaborative-agent model has been shown using some lemmas and numerical examples.