Proactive Supply-Chain Event Management with Agent Technology

Abstract

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.