Heli Helaakoski

Agent-Based Architecture for Virtual Enterprises to Support Agility

Global competition forces enterprises to concentrate on their core competencies while transforming themselves to participate in emerging inter-enterprise formations following the virtual enterprise (VE) paradigm. VE is a form that offers high flexibility, agility and resilience for enterprises to survive and prosper in the globalized economy. This paper introduces the real world VE that uses agent-based software to support agility. This research is conducted as a case study in the business network, which consist of several small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and one focal company operating in the steel manufacturing industry in Northern Finland. The new VE, called Steel Net is aiming towards global markets with the support of effective information sharing.

Smart Assembly — Data and Model Driven

The world is changing distinctly and manufacturing is facing significant challenges. Current manufacturing paradigms need to develop towards better agility to meet current market demand. The relevant research has been launched and the resulting new approaches, like smart manufacturing, digital manufacturing and the cognitive factory, are introduced. However, today’s real challenge to manufacturing enterprises is building an infrastructure that will enable the sharing of knowledge and information in a manufacturing environment, regardless of time and place. This article reviews some of the latest approaches and research initiatives and suggests the use of semantic technologies in information integration. Use of semantics enables information and knowledge to be represented in a form understandable to both humans and machines, and offers the ability to adapt more flexibly to change.

Mobile technology to support maintenance efficiency — Mobile maintenance in heavy industry

Mobile technologies are now mature enough to face the challenge and requirements of professional use in industry. The exploitation of mobile technologies will keep on expanding, but in heavy industry and maintenance the use of mobile solutions has not yet become popular although the interest towards mobile solutions has risen. This paper presents the mobile maintenance case study where the roles of mobile technology in strengthening the maintenance operations were researched. The aim of the research was to identify benefits of mobile technology in maintenance, to research the development process of professional mobile solutions and to evaluate the potential of new technologies in developing more value added mobile solutions in industrial environment. Research applied Solution Envisioning Approach with Capability Cases in addition to technology adoption perspective. This paper presents the results of the case study relating to industry requirements, driving forces, targets, challenges and problems. In addition to this factors affecting to acceptance and adoption of industrial mobile solutions are discussed. The mobile maintenance case study produced several Capability Cases that support more efficient maintenance by exploiting mobile technologies.

Software agents-enabled systems coalition for integrated manufacturing processes and supply chain management

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.

Agility in a project-oriented supply chain

This study contributes to the discussion on agility in supply chain management and provides a novel focus on the enterprise development. The object of this study is to develop an agile supply chain for the case business network, which is moving towards project-oriented business, where quick response is a key issue and agile practices more attractive. It is concluded that in project-oriented business, agility is necessary for competitiveness, and comprehensive implementation of information and communication technologies throughout the supply chain is of utmost importance in the development of an agile supply chain.

A collaborative working tool for information systems integration and continuous improvement

This paper discuses the virtual enterprise (VE) as an intercompany collaborative tool for knowledge management. This concept, based on the internet and state-of-the-art information technologies, can be seen as the foundation for a firms information resources. This paper presents the case VE, called SteelNet, based on an information technology (IT) solution deploying agent technology. The VE integrates dispersed companies and customers to ensure that all the members of the network receive accurate and timely information. The VE reported here provides a new solution for an unpredicted opportunity. Therefore, the VE is more of an action, rather than an institution.

Evaluation of Internet-of-Things Platforms for Asset Management

The exploitation of Internet-of-Things technologies is continuously raising and the number of platforms increasing all the time. Companies are developing new Industrial Internet based business or service models by using IoT platforms as a backbone infrastructure. At the moment companies are already adding connectivity features to new machines, vehicles and other product models. Next step is the exploitation of collected and analysed real-time data to support profitable business and efficient operations. The first challenge companies are facing, when considering the exploitation of industrial internet solution, is choosing the suitable IoT platform to serve their business purposes. This paper presents the business and technical perspective based approaches for evaluating IoT platforms for asset management purposes. Furthermore, the paper presents an example case study of evaluating IoT platforms to support asset management research. The aim of the case study was to identify essential issues that must be noticed and to specify the requirements which the selected platform must meet to enable efficient asset management. This paper presents the results relating to the requirements and selecting the most suitable platform for asset management applications in service businesses.

Developing supply chain information sharing through semantic interoperability

This study addresses information sharing in service context through supply chain management and technological perspectives. The aim is to illustrate challenges in service supply chain information sharing and highlight the role of semantic technologies in dealing with them. Through a qualitative case study looking at a maintenance service supply chain, problem areas in information sharing are identified and semantic integration model to address them is presented. The effects of the developed model on supply chain performance are discussed. Maintenance services are a novel application area for semantic technologies. The research also addresses the research gap concerning service supply chains and information sharing in them.

Agile Business Model in the Steel Product Industry Sector

Todays success manufacturing paradigm is agility that emphasizes customer orientation, networking and the benefits of e-business. The new agile business model has set also new requirements for supporting ICT infrastructure. As the enterprises are forming dynamic networks and the products are changing in variety and volume, the supporting ICT infrastructure has to be flexible in order to work in heterogeneous application environment. This paper proposes an agent-based solution to support agile business model in manufacturing business network. The paper describes a SteelNet case study in which a business network has used agent-based solution to support the new business model. The case study also introduces the implementation and testing processes of SteelNet system

From Measurements to Knowledge - Online Quality Monitoring and Smart Manufacturing

The purpose of this study was to develop an innovative supervisor system to assist the operators in an industrial manufacturing process to help discover new alternative solutions for improving both the products and the manufacturing process.