Arunachalam, Raghu (2000) An agent based compositional framework for supply chain simulation. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

To survive in an ever increasing global and competitive marketplace, organisations
are forging strategic alliances to gain a competitive advantage over their rivals.
Consequently, it is now recognised that it is not sufficient to look at organisations in
isolation, but view them in the wider context of the supply chain. In order to design
arid manage supply chains it is necessary to understand and predict the behaviour of
such systems.
The ability to perform detailed studies of dynamic behaviour has made discrete event
simulation (DES) an invaluable tool in the design and analysis of manufacturing
systems. DES has been used to model individual stages of a supply chain, but rarely
has it been applied comprehensively across the entire chain. The multi-faceted nature
of supply chains makes the creation of a single model that represents all aspects of the
chain difficult. A compositional framework, termed HerMIS (Heterogeneous Model
Integration and Simulation), is proposed that allows pieces of a supply chain to not
only be studied in isolation, but in the context of the other parts as well.
Three requirements are identified for the development of HerMIS. These are: (1) to
support a compositional approach so as to allow multi-facetted modelling, (2) to
function in a distributed environment where models and information about them are
distributed at different locations amongst various organisations, and (3) to provide an
execution mechanism that allows the composite model to be simulated efficiently.
A class based taxonomy of component models and their interaction is conceived that
forms the basis of a representation scheme for composite modelling. An agent based
paradigm that employs a collection of synthesis_agents and model_agents is devised
to support the distributed operation of the framework. The synthesis_agents function
as sources of knowledge for synthesising composite models and are used in
conjunction with an interactive blackboard based system to guide the user in creating
composite models. Each of the model_agents incorporate a discrete event model of a
supply chain component, arid supports the distributed simulation of the composite
model.
Finally, a parallel discrete event simulation algorithm is proposed that enables the
composite model to be simulated on a network of computer workstations. The
algorithm is based on the optimistic PDES approach and takes into consideration
some of the operating characteristics of a composite supply chain model.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Electronic computers. Computer science. Computer software
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Business logistics -- Computer simulation, Discrete-time systems
Official Date:	October 2000
Dates:	Date Event October 2000 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Engineering
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Roy, Rajat
Sponsors:	Warwick Manufacturing Group ; University of Warwick. Dept. of Engineering
Extent:	vii, 197 leaves
Language:	eng

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