Facolta' Di Ingegneria Dottorato Di Ricerca in Ingegneria Economico Gestionale Xxii Ciclo a Reference Model for Distributed Decision Making Adopting a Multi-agent Approach

..........................................................................................................................................V
 1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................1
 1.1
 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS.....................................................................................................1
 1.2
 FROM DSS TO COOPERATION MODEL .......................................................................................2
 1.3
 COOPERATIVE SYSTEM ..............................................................................................................3
 2 MULTI AGENT SYSTEM ................................................................................................................5
 2.1
 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
 2.1.1
 Multi Agent System Issues and Challenges .......................................................................8
 2.1.2
 Individual Agent Reasoning ............................................................................................10
 2.1.3
 Organization of Agent Society.........................................................................................11
 2.2
 DISTRIBUTED DECISION MAKING ON MANUFACTURING SYSTEM............................................13
 2.2.1
 The Decision Problems....................................................................................................16
 2.2.2
 Possible Approaches .......................................................................................................16
 2.3
 AGENT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTS .................................................................................22
 3 THE REFERENCE MODEL ..........................................................................................................27
 3.1
 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................27
 3.2
 METHODS FOR MULTI-AGENT MODEL DEVELOPMENT ..............................................................28
 3.3
 THE REFERENCE MODEL..........................................................................................................29
 3.3.1
 A Reference Model uses...................................................................................................30
 3.4
 THE MULTI AGENT REFERENCE MODEL..................................................................................31
 4 REFERENCE MODEL APPLICATIONS.....................................................................................36
 4.1
 PRODUCTION SCHEDULING IN INNOVATIVE FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM .................36
 4.1.1
 Introduction .....................................................................................................................36
 4.1.2
 FMS as a complex system................................................................................................37
 4.1.3
 A Multi Agent System Model For scheduling problem in FMS.......................................38
 4.1.4
 The Centralized Approach...............................................................................................40
 4.1.5
 The Decentralized Approach ...........................................................................................41
 4.1.6
 Test Results ......................................................................................................................42
 4.1.7
 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................45
 4.2
 APPLICATION TO LEAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM ........................................................................46
 4.2.1
 Introduction .....................................................................................................................46
 4.2.2
 Resource management in healthcare systems .................................................................47
 4.2.3
 Problem Description .......................................................................................................49
 4.2.4
 Methodology: the cooperative model ..............................................................................51
 4.2.5
 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................55
 4.3
 A PERFORMANCE INDICATORS MODEL FOR INTEGRATED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT ........56
 4.3.1
 Introduction .....................................................................................................................56
 4.3.2
 Multi Agent System Approach to model a Business Process Measurement ....................57
 4.3.3
 Model Description ...........................................................................................................59
 4.3.4
 Model Application ...........................................................................................................62
 4.3.5
 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................67
 4.4
 TERRITORIAL COLLABORATIVE NETWORKS ............................................................................68
 4.4.1
 Introduction .....................................................................................................................68
 4.4.2
 The Scenario ....................................................................................................................69