The agent-based collaboration information system for agile supply chain management

Businesses are undergoing a major paradigm shift, moving from traditional management into a world of agile organizations and processes. An agile enterprise should be able to rapidly respond to market changes. For this reason, enterprises have been seeking to develop numerous information technology (IT) systems to assist with the information management of their business processes. Many of the coming new business processes may contain embedded agent-based information systems. Agent technology looks set to radically alter not only the way in which computers are interacted, but also the way complex processes, e.g., supply chain management, are conceptualized and built. This paper proposes an agent-based system of collaborative information and the formalism for supply chain management. The objective of this paper is to develop an agent-based system to enhance supply chain agility. The agents in the system autonomously plan and purse their actions and sub-goals, to cooperate, coordinate, and negotiate with others, and to respond flexibly and intelligently to dynamic and unpredictable situations.