Towards a cloud computing in the service of green logistics

Abstract

The development of cloud computing solutions for logistics offers new benefits to companies, such as access to resources on demand, elasticity and usage billing. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent system based on a cloud computing platform called system agent cloud logistics (SACL), which aims to measure the economic, environmental and social performances of a logistic process and to help a company to make the right decision. For achieving this goal, our proposed system integrates: cloud computing technology, web services techniques, multi-agent approach, and simulation model. As a scenario, we've chosen the case of a virtual pharmaceutical wholesaler, and we have formulated the problem for command preparation process. The results show that our proposed system helps the decision maker to estimate the economic, environmental and social costs of a logistic process and to know the impact of a new strategic solution and its cost before retaining it.