Enabling the smart supply chain ecosystems: A multi-parameter decentralized model for Supply Chain 5.0

Abstract

The paper presents a decentralized mechanism for multiple contract parameters agreement within a group of companies that may act as suppliers or as consumers in the process of Supply Chain Formation (SCF). The suppliers and consumers are acted by agents and each agent has an utility function which provides for different combinations of values of contract parameters a particular utility level. The agents decide on different combinations of the values for the shared parameters during the supply chain construction process. Contracts between the parties include multiple parameters, and each is working to maximize utility, based on the specified contract parameters. The SCF problem is transposed into a cluster graph in which the nodes represent clusters over the agent’s utility function variables. Agents communicate through a message exchange mechanism which provides also constraints propagation from the underlying suppliers. The proposed model enhances the current state-of-the-art for SCF by using multiple contract parameters in the process of decentralized SCF and also provides means for dealing with complementary inputs.