An Agent-Based Collaborative Model For Supply Chain Management Simulation

In traditional supply chain (SC), planning problems are usually considered individually at each SC entity. However, such decisions often influence the other members in the chain and thus an integrated approach should be considered. By modelling system-wide SC networks, different SC problems, like production planning, coordination, order distribution, among others, can be integrated and solved simultaneously so that the solution is beneficial to all entities in a longterm base. In an attempt to make progress in this area, researchers use various methods for modelling the dynamics of SCs. In the literature review, due to their distinctive characteristics, multi-agent-based systems have emerged as one of the most adequate modelling tools for tackling various aspects of SC problems. In this work, a multi-agent supply chain system (MASCS) model that integrates different SC processes is presented. The proposed model allows modelling different SCs with multi-products and different operational policies considering information asymmetry and distributed/decentralized mode of control. In this article the details of the MASCS model development and implementation are presented. Furthermore, the applicability of the proposed MASCS is briefly demonstrated through the solution of a SC example. The obtained results are discussed and research extensions are outlined.