Abstract
Most business negotiations in supply chain and information exchange in
manufacturing processes are heavily human-involved using proprietary data
formats. The processes of negotiation and information exchange are usually
time consuming and unreliable even in routine tasks. Software agents have
been increasingly explored to improve the information flow and the
decision-making process within networked manufacturing enterprises. In order
to use agents in manufacturing applications, a software agent-enabled
process integration framework for manufacturing and supply chain management
has been developed and is described in this paper. The framework includes
agent architectures, interaction protocols, message exchanges, an
ontological engineering environment, business rules and knowledge bases and
databases. The initial implementation of the framework has been tested by a
prototype multi-agent system in a steel product business network and a
manufacturing network
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 157-173 |
| Journal | International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2007 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- agent architecture
- autonomous agents
- manufacturing planning
- multi-agent system
- supply chain management
- systems integration
