A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for collaborative installation management in a network-based supply chain environment. According to an embodiment of the invention, telephone calls, data and other multimedia information are routed through a network system which includes transfer of information across the internet utilizing telephony routing information and internet protocol address information. The system includes integrated Internet Protocol (IP) telephony services allowing a user of a web application to communicate in an audio fashion in-band without having to pick up another telephone. Users can click a button and go to a call center through the network using IP telephony. The system invokes an IP telephony session simultaneously with the data session, and uses an active directory lookup whenever a user uses the system. Users include service providers and manufacturers utilizing the network-based supply chain environment.

Providing collaborative installation management in a network-based supply chain environment

A system, method, and article of manufacture are provided for technology sharing during demand and supply planning in a network-based supply chain environment. Steps included are providing locator and mapping capabilities utilizing the network. Technology that includes streaming audio, stereo audio and video data is also shared utilizing the network. Encryption capabilities for the technology are also included. Further, searching capabilities are provided utilizing the network in addition to logging events and passive user profiling. The event logging includes logging network operations. User profile data is automatically received and stored. User profile data includes user identity, state, preferences and interests. User profile data is also automatically exported to an active profile manager which automatically adds additional user profile data. Additional user profile data includes information related to whether the user is a service provider or a manufacturer and the location of user.

Technology sharing during demand and supply planning in a network-based supply chain environment

Supply chain coordination: Perspectives, empirical studies and research directions

A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for a first business entity to provide a network-based supply chain framework for collaborative order management between at least a second and a third independent business entity, such as a service provider, vendor, reseller, manufacturer and the like. A request for an order is received over a network with an automated system, from at least a second business entity. The order is transmitted over a network, with an automated system, to at least the third business entity. Information is received from the third business entity relating to a status of completion of the order by the third business entity using a network. The progress in completing the order is tracked based on the information received from the third business entity. Progress reports from the tracking are generated periodically; and transmitted to the second business entity using the network.

Increased visibility during order management in a network-based supply chain environment

The emerging paradigm of agent-based computation has revolutionized the building of intelligent and decentralized systems. The new technologies met well the requirements in all domains of manufacturing where problems of uncertainty and temporal dynamics, information sharing and distributed operation, or coordination and cooperation of autonomous entities had to be tackled. In the paper software agents and multi-agent systems are introduced and through a comprehensive survey, their potential manufacturing applications are outlined. Special emphasis is laid on methodological issues and deployed industrial systems. After discussing open issues and strategic research directions, we conclude that the evolution of agent technologies and manufacturing will probably proceed hand in hand. The former can receive real challenges from the latter, which, in turn, will have more and more benefits in applying agent technologies, presumably together with well-established or emerging approaches of other disciplines.

/pdf/agent-based-systems-for-manufacturing-xij8ryuzc7.pdf

Agent-based systems for manufacturing

http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~percy/Report17/Supply-side_collaboration_and_its_value_in_supply_chains.pdf

Supply-side collaboration and its value in supply chains

Purpose – A traditional supply chain, all too often, is a sequence of weakly connected activities both within and outside the organization and leads to many misalignments. Tackling this inherent lack of coordination is a major value creation opportunity for supply chain managers. This paper aims to present a coordination framework, called ASCEND, to align the inventory decisions in decentralized supply chains.Design/methodology/approach – The framework rests on three pillars – multi‐agent technology, coordination theory, and optimization technology. Inventory alignment is transformed into a decentralized constraint satisfaction optimization problem, which is then solved using a genetic algorithm‐based coordination process. The guiding principle of this framework is the establishment of a proper incentive alignment mechanism through cost‐sharing and service level contracts, taking into account the associated dependencies.Findings – The results of the pilot study indicate that the coordination framework red...

A coordination framework for supply chain inventory alignment

The paper is framed to address the preliminary approach towards process oriented collaborative inventory management in supply chains, taking advantage of multi-agent technology in terms of modeling and simulation. Initially, a SCM support model is proposed as a foundation to combine the supply chain processes with the multi-agent system. In succession, a simple PC assembling case is investigated and simulated mainly to validate the SCM support model. As a result, the combination has the potential to make possible a real strategic competitive advantage for the entire supply chain and will enable new forms of business, namely, collaborative inventory management. Accordingly, a theoretical framework of collaborative inventory management is highlighted to refine and extend the SCM support model with the purpose of synchronizing decisions as well as actions.

/pdf/multi-agent-enabled-modeling-and-simulation-towards-49oh5ty2ji.pdf

Multi-agent enabled modeling and simulation towards collaborative inventory management in supply chains

This paper is framed to address the preliminary approach towards process-oriented collaborative inventory management in supply chains, taking advantage of multi-agent technology in terms of modeling and simulation. Initially, a SCM support model is proposed as a foundation to combine the supply chain processes with the multi-agent system. In succession, a simple PC assembling case is investigated and simulated mainly to validate the SCM support model. As a result, the combination has the potential to make possible a real strategic competitive advantage for the entire supply chain and will enable new forms of business, namely, collaborative inventory management. Accordingly, a theoretical framework of collaborative inventory management is highlighted to refine and extend the SCM support model with the purpose to synchronize decisions as well as actions.

Yonghui Fu

Papers

Supply-side collaboration and its value in supply chains

A coordination framework for supply chain inventory alignment

Multi-agent enabled modeling and simulation towards collaborative inventory management in supply chains

Agent-based simulation applications: multi-agent enabled modeling and simulation towards collaborative inventory management in supply chains