Roland Zimmermann

Proactive Supply-Chain Event Management with Agent Technology

Supply-chain event management (SCEM) provides timely event-related information that can be used to identify and correct disruptions and malfunctions in operational supply-chain processes. A proactive SCEM system that adheres to requirements derived from the deficits of current SCEM solutions can substantially reduce supply-chain troubleshooting costs. Several mechanisms for proactive SCEM are proposed, encompassing concepts to gather data on suborders in interorganizational settings, focus on proactive monitoring activities with classified critical order profiles, and analyze, interpret, and distribute information employing fuzzy logic. Agent technology is shown to be suitable for implementing proactive SCEM systems, and an agent-based concept is presented. The proactive SCEM concept is evaluated by means of a prototype implementation for a logistics service provider. The results show that the costs of information and monitoring processes can be reduced substantially.

Agent-Based Supply Chain Event Management — Concept and Assessment

Supply chain event management (SCEM) provides timely event-related information on disruptions and malfunctions in operational fulfillment processes. Agent technology is especially suited to realize distributed SCEM in complex supply chains. A concept for agent-based SCEM is presented. Two different prototype implementations of the concept are used to assess the benefits of an agent-based approach to SCEM. The results indicate significant monetary benefits due to reduced follow-up costs of disruptive events and efficient monitoring processes.

Supply Chain Event Management With Software Agents

Operational fulfillment of supply chain processes in enterprise networks is regularly affected negatively by disruptive events. Event management promises to identify such problems in a timely fashion and significantly increase reaction time. A concept based on software agent technology is presented which enhances time and defect flexibility of supply chain processes. Evaluation of the concept indicates cost and cycle time reductions in multi-level supply chains which are not achieved by conventional approaches.

An Ontology for Agent-Based Monitoring of Fulfillment Processes

An agent-based supply chain monitoring system for tracking orders and their related suborders is presented. To enable the necessary communication between the agents an ontology is introduced. The design of the ontology and the implementation are discussed in detail. The usage of the ontology for inter-agent communication is illustrated with the help of AUML models of the agent-interactions in the supply chain monitoring system. Concluding, two prototypes of the system are presented.

Agent.Enterprise in a Nutshell

The manufacturing logistics domain is continually evolving towards ever more complex supply chain structures which call for increasingly flexible production capabilities. A concept is proposed which leverages agent technology’s capabilities to provide flexibility in such a complex environment while at the same time it does not interfere with the manifold interdependencies and individual behaviors of actors in modern enterprise networks. The Agent.Enterprise concept is demonstrated in a prototype implementation which integrates various multiagent systems (MAS) into a multi-multiagent system (MMAS). It provides integrated yet distributed and flexible supply chain management, from inter-organizational coordination down to detailed shop-floor level production planning.

Agent-Based Information Logistics in Planning Processes

Monitoring and coordination of planning processes requires a very flexible support by information systems. Due to the high amount of activities conducted in parallel as well as numerous interdependencies between inputs and outputs of every process step, present coordination concepts result in information deficits during process execution. In cooperation with an industry partner an agent-based information logistics system has been developed to reduce these deficits. The concept builds upon autonomic system approaches and event management paradigms. First results indicate that it is capable to streamline coordination processes.

Software Agents for Electronic Business: Opportunities and Challenges (2005 Re-mix)

Despite the consolidation of expectations related to information technology that we have seen over the past three years, Electronic business (e- Business) remains a major driver of information technology. In this paper, we investigate how e-Business can benefit from methods, components and solutions based on software agent technology. We give an overview of the current electronic business mainstreams and outline a number of important challenges e-Business has to tackle. By means of three example case studies, we investigate the required extent and the means to apply agent technology successfully in e-Business applications in order to resolve some of these challenges.

An Agent-based Information Logistics Architecture for Process Management

Existing business process support systems focus on execution of highly structured business processes which are represented in a formal modeling notation. These systems fail, if processes are weakly structured or if process changes have to be considered during execution. Therefore, an information logistics architecture is proposed to support business processes, especially those which rely on informational inputs and produce information as an output. The architecture is based on software agent technology to flexibly monitor distributed activities. A showcase of the architecture to support a sales planning process is implemented in cooperation with an industry partner

An Ambient intelligence information infrastructure for production-to-maintenance processes

Abstract Specific informational problems are predominant in Process-to-Maintenance (P2M) processes of machine and plant construction industries. An integrated information infrastructure is required to reduce these deficits. Ambient technologies such as active IT-elements and software agents offer the opportunity to design and realize a flexible information infrastructure that is used to coordinate all process phases. Potential benefits of the architecture are discussed in detail and further research to develop an Ambient Intelligence Information Infrastructure (AIII) for P2M-processes is justified.

Autonomous Order Monitoring by Software Agents

In B2B (business-to-business) e-commerce companies depend eminently on the punctual fulfillment of orders given to their suppliers. It is a very time consuming and costly task to observe every order in a way that bad events can be detected instantaneously. This is especially true if there are many suppliers providing various parts and you also have to check the supply of the suppliers etc. So called supply chain event management tries to cope with this problem. Software agents that gather event- related information are one promising approach to monitor a large number of different orders autonomously and individually. Fuzzy logic provides mechanisms for heuristic human-like assessments of these data. An agent-based concept is introduced that includes autonomous software for tracking orders on the one hand and fuzzy logic mechanisms for analyzing order data on the other hand. A prototype implementation illustrates this concept. Results of evaluation experiments using this prototype system are presented.