Alain Ferrarini

An organization-oriented methodological framework for agent-based supply chain simulation

The SC organizational structure, and related management policies, is a crucial factor that can be adjusted to improve the SC performance, which consequently has to be taken into account in the SC modeling and simulation. This paper addresses a new methodological framework in the context of an agent-based SC simulation, which permits modeling and simulation of such SC organizational aspects, allowing observables of different levels of details. This methodological framework is structured according to two main abstraction levels, a conceptual level and an operational level. For each of these levels, different models are proposed and presented in detail. This methodological framework is associated with a multi model and multi-paradigm software architecture adapted to the SC simulation.

Multi-Agent Modelling for Simulation of Customer-Centric Supply Chain

The analysis of coordination among the Supply Chain (SC) members is a key factor for improving its performance. The highly dynamic demand induced by the volatility of customers requires defining tools to improve the performance. This paper presents an agent-based modelling concept for simulation of customer-centric SC. We describe the specificities of such SCs at the enterprise modelling domain level and propose an approach permitting to explicitly take into account the customers and their behaviours. The approach uses three levels of modelling, successively leading to a domain model, a Conceptual Agent Model (CAM) and an Operational Agent Model (OAM). A case study from the personalised golf club industry illustrates the proposed approach.

A Multi-Agent System for Modelisation and Simulation-Emulation of Supply-Chains

Abstract Nowadays, in the current economic context, the Supply Chain Management shows a major advantage for industrial enterprises. The research work presented here is focused on the design and the implementation of a multi-agent system for modelling and simulating supply chain behaviour. Our aim is to provide a help to the different decision makers who intervene in the management of supply chains. The main agents of our system follow the ACL-FIPA standard to communicate; they are able to develop complex conversational protocols and elaborated reasoning. The Multi-Agent platform has been validated on an example of simple supply-chain.

A Cooperative Agent Based Scheduling Repair Method for Managing Disruptions in Complex Organisations

In order to minimize disturbance impact in complex organizations, an agent-based decision support system is proposed using a distributed cooperative scheduling repair method. The approach is based on an isomorphic modelling of complex organizations, where agents operate cooperative repair behaviours. Agents implement solving strategies composed of atomic repair operations. The resulting multiagent system will operate the repair behaviours in order to determine the solution which minimizes the disturbance impact and to propose it to the human decision maker. This paper focuses on the description of cooperative repair operations and cooperation strategies that agents develop through their behaviours in order to find solutions to disturbances and propose them to human decision makers.

A Production System Reconfiguration Model Based on Repair Approach

The frequency of new product introduction requires adaptable production system. In this context, this paper deals with the reconfiguration issue during factory layout design regarding the introduction of a new product in an existing production line. A repair approach from planning recovery is explored to address this issue. We show that long term performance can be reached if future products can be integrated easily in the existing production system with low disruptions on current operations during the reconfiguration phase.

Conceptual Design and Simulation of an Automotive Body Shop Assembly Line

This research work deals with assembly line design and its performance measurement at early stage of a project. The objective is to support decision process on strategical choices regarding the future system configuration. In this perspective, simulation and digital factory concept represent tools and related methodologies to support manufacturing design process, taking into account the whole system lifecycle. However, these model based approaches usually focus on detailed design and less on conceptual design where key decisions are made based on preliminary analysis and usually little available information. In this paper, conceptual models of an assembly line are presented to support the designer’s choices and solution analysis. Business process modeling and simulation are explored to address this issue. Several scenarios and preliminary ideas on process layout and structure are evaluated.

Manufacturing engineering data integration for assembly process design review

In order to achieve rapid development process and reduce the time to market, new approaches have been investigated for automotive body assembly design. This research presents a prospective study about using plant digital mock up to support industrialization process and design reviews. The concept of Digital Lot (DLot) is introduced as a design object to validate a layout and assembly processes alternative in a collaborative way. The result is a better synchronization between manufacturing engineers and quick identification of key issues related to the future assembly process configuration.