An adaptive ontology-mediated approach to organize agent-based supply chain negotiation

Conference Theme: Soft Computing Techniques for Advanced Manufacturing and Service SystemsSession - MP-Fc Supply Chain Management & Logistics 3: cie181hk-1Effective supply chain management (SCM) comprises activities involving the demand and supply of resources and services. One important aspect of SCM is that companies in the supply chain may have to make decisions which are conflicting with the other partners. Negotiation is an essential approach to solve transaction and scheduling problems among supply chain members. Multi-agent systems (MAS) are being increasingly used in SCM applications. The advances in agent technology have provided the potential of automating supply chain negotiations to alleviate human interactions. This paper proposes an ontology-mediated approach to organize the agent-based supply chain negotiation and equip the agents with sophisticated negotiation knowledge. Firstly, a generic agent negotiation scheme is developed involving the agent intelligence modules, the knowledge representation method and the interaction behaviors. Then, the negotiation knowledge is structured through the usage of ontology, which performs as a hierarchical architecture as well as a descriptive language. The relationships between negotiation ontology concepts are defined through SWRL inference rules. Through this method, agents' negotiation behaviors will be more adaptive to various negotiation environments in accordance with different negotiation knowledge.published_or_final_versionThe 40th International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering (CIE40), Awaji City, Japan, 25-28 July 2010. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computers and Industrial Engineering, 2010, p. 1-

An E-Logistics Model for Effective Collaborative Commerce

Collaborative Commerce (C-Commerce) is the name given to commercial relationships carried out over a collaborative framework to integrate enterprises’ business processes, share customer relationships and manage knowledge across enterprise boundaries. This is a business strategy that leverages the extensive reach of the Internet. C-Commerce places emphasis on supply chain involvement where members of the supply chain work together to design, build, market and deploy products and services. Collaborative commerce is the next generation of E-commerce framework. E-logistics is the mechanism of automating the logistics processes and providing an integrated, end-to-end fulfillment and supply chain management service to the players of logistics processes. This paper attempts to design an integrated framework for an E-logistics model that it can be effectively employed for C-Commerce

Agent Technology in Supply Chains and Networks: An exploration of high potential future applications

This paper reports on an ongoing research project that\ud is aimed at evaluating how software agents can improve\ud performance of supply chains and networks. To conduct\ud this evaluation, first a framework is developed to classify\ud potential applications of software agents to supply\ud networks. The framework was used in workshop sessions\ud with logistics and information systems experts from\ud industry, software/consultancy and academia to identify\ud promising areas for agents. Based on the framework and\ud the outcome of the workshop sessions, this paper presents\ud promising application areas for the near future and\ud beyond

A multi-agent platform for auction-based allocation of loads in transportation logistics

This paper describes an agent-based platform for the allocation of loads in distributed transportation logistics, developed as a collaboration between CWI, Dutch National Center for Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam and Vos Logistics Organizing, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The platform follows a real business scenario proposed by Vos, and it involves a set of agents bidding for transportation loads to be distributed from a central depot in the Netherlands to different locations across Germany. The platform supports both human agents (i.e. transportation planners), who can bid through specialized planning and bidding interfaces, as well as automated, software agents. We exemplify how the proposed platform can be used to test both the bidding behaviour of human logistics planners, as well as the performance of automated auction bidding strategies, developed for such settings. The paper first introduces the business problem setting and then describes the architecture and main characteristics of our auction platform. We conclude with a preliminary discussion of our experience from a human bidding experiment, involving Vos planners competing for orders both against each other and against some (simple) automated strategies

Early Warning System Potential for Single Sourcing Risk Mitigation

[EN] Network governance is described as a framework of policies and business rules, which is applied to manage an extended organization. Risk mitigation is crucial to avoid disruptions. A early warning systems could help to avoid these risk. In the paper a framework ro risk management using an early warning systems is presented.Franconetti Rodríguez, P.; Ortiz Bas, Á. (2014). Early Warning System Potential for Single Sourcing Risk Mitigation. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. 434:610-617. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-44745-1_60S610617434Enderwick, P.: Avoiding quality fade in Chinese global supply chains. Bus. Proc. Manag. J. 15(6), 876–894 (2009)Christopher, M., Lee, H.: Mitigating supply chain risk through improved confidence. Int. J. Phys. Dist. Log. Manag. 34, 388–396 (2004)Chopra, S., Sodhi, M.S.: Managing Risk to avoid Supply-Chain breakdown. MIT Sloan Manag. Rev., 53–61 (2004)Zeng, A.Z.: A synthetic study of sourcing strategies. Ind. Manage Data Syst. 100(5), 219–226 (2000)Wu, Z., Jiao, J., He, Z.: A single control chart for monitoring the frequency and magnitude of an event. Int. J. Prod. Econom. 119, 24–33 (2009)Macedo, P., Cardoso, T., Camarinha-Matos, L.M.: Value Systems Alignment in Product Servicing Networks. In: Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Scherer, R.J. (eds.) PRO-VE 2013. IFIP AICT, vol. 408, pp. 71–80. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)Tummala, R., Schoenherr, T.: Assessing and managing risks using the Supply Chain Risk Management Process (SCRMP). Suppl. Chain Manag. 16(6), 474–483 (2011)Franconetti, P., Ortiz, A.: Sourcing risk management in industrial collaborative networks. IEEE T. Ind. Inform. (under revision)Blackhurst, J.V., Scheibe, K.P., Johnson, D.J.: Supplier risk assessment and monitoring for the automotive industry. Int. J. Phys. Dist. Log. Manag. 38(2), 143–165 (2008)Scandizzo, S.: Risk Mapping and Key Risk Indicators in Operational Risk Management. Ec. Notes Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena 34(2), 231–256 (2005)Stavrulaki, E., Davis, M.: Aligning products with supply chain processes and strategy. Int. J. Log. Manag. 21, 127–151 (2010)Chakraborty, D., Tah, D.: Real time statistical process advisor for effective quality control. Decision Support Systems 42(2), 700–711 (2006)Guiledge, T., Chavusholu, T.: Automating the construction of supply chain key performance indicators. Ind. Manag. Data Syst. 108(6), 750–777 (2008

Antecedents and outcomes of brand management from the perspective of resource based view (RBV) theory

Brand management requires greater emphasis on internal factors to increase brand performance. A model of antecedents and outcomes of brand management is developed in this study based on the Resource Based View (RBV) Theory. Top management emphasis on brand, corporate supportive resources and market orientation are identified as crucial internal factors or antecedents for success of brand management. Apart from that, the brand management measurement are expanded in this study with the introduction of three new marketing constructs namely marketing capabilities, innovation and brand orientation as new dimensions in brand management which currently comprised of management related constructs. This study also contributes in the brand management of small and medium enterprise (SMEs) literature as previous studies mainly focused on the brand management for multinational companies or large organizations. One important issue of SMEs is the “internal” brand management which is currently under-researched even though it is critical in brand building and management. Therefore, this research aims to highlight the antecedents and outcomes of brand management in Malaysians’ SMEs based on RBV theory. A comprehensive literature review was done and a conceptual model is proposed in this literature review

Enterprise Systems Analysis and Modelling

In ES implementations, process modelling is a critical and often overlooked activity. This paper proposes a framework for process modelling of ES. The four steps method involves: Current Situation Analysis, Business Process Improvements and Requirements, Gap Analysis, and To-be process to develop. Outputs of the methodology are an interdependent set of organizational and system proposed changes, and feedback loops to the ES vendors and to the strategy of the firm. In-depth case studies and extensive literature review provides methodological support. For practitioners, this study provides useful insights into one of the reasons by which companies could be frustrated with ES implementation.E-business, ERP

Treatment of palm oil mill secondary effluent (POMSE) using ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes

Malaysian palm oil industry has grown rapidly over the last few decades, to becoming the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil. This success story however, comes with a greater challenge and equally required more sacrifices in order to maintain the tempo. In the year of 2004, it has been recorded that 26.7 million tons of solid biomass and approximately a 30 million tons of palm oil mill effluent (POME) were generated from 381 palm oil mills in Malaysia [1]. Although different kind of wastes are generated in the palm oil mills, the perceived harmful waste among all the waste generated is the palm oil mill effluent (POME) due to its associated harm if discharged into the environment untreated [2]. POME is a colloidal suspension originating from mixture of sterilizer condensate, separator sludge and hydro cyclone wastewater in a ratio of 9:15:1 respectively [3]. It is a brownish colored, thick liquid that is containing high amount of oil, solids, and grease with high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) values. Table 15.1 describes the characteristic of POME obtained from Malaysian Palm Oil Board