The research on integrated SCM system based on agent

Abstract

To develop more powerful and flexible supply chain management (SCM) system, after the definition of agent and the abstract architecture of a federated MAS system with three types of agents, the integrated architecture of SCM system based on Agent has been presented, which includes three layers. Function layer of SCM with five function agents is in charge of giving support to the SCM. The middle layer with Information Service Agent provides the service of acquiring information. The third layer provides an interface for enterprises to connect their legacy systems with the SCM system. In this architecture, the market mechanism is adopted to serve as control for interaction behavior among agents, which is described in detail. To illustrate the architecture, a simulation work has been done in SCM system of one Television Factory of China and the results implies that the architecture provides a very efficient method to design and develop SCM system for small & medium-size enterprise, in integrating legacy systems together with SCM system, business process reengineering, flexibility and agility to meet the changes of customer demand, the ability to flexibly apply tools and to extend, has played a very important role.