Design of an agent-based system for improving supply chain strategy

Abstract

Supply chain managers and decision makers are facing a challenge to develop supply chains that are efficient and economical, with the ability to provide the organisation with added value by simultaneously enhancing the quality of customer service and reducing operation cost. Supply Chain Management has become a major vehicle to gain a competitive advantage in this ever-changing market. It can also make instant improvements to an enterprise's business strategies. Supply chain strategy is not simply derived from the business strategy. It can be the enabler of the business strategy. It promotes good responsiveness to customer demands by shortening the product life cycle throughout the supply pipeline. In this paper, an intelligent agent-based system, named Supply Chain Strategy Improvement System is proposed. Its aim is to provide support to decision-making in matters related to the supply chain strategy by utilising various artificial intelligence techniques, including Multi-agent System techniques, Case-based Reasoning and Online Analytical Processing.