Semantic Web services enabled dynamic creation of supply chain

An ideal supply chain should be created dynamically on the basis of specific requirements coming from customers. In this paper, we put forward architecture of dynamic creation of supply chain in which suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers are arbitrary and independent enterprises and not integrated with each other beforehand. In order to be ready for possible cooperation, each enterprise could publish its own function modules as Web services. It is presumed that an agent manages customers' demands. According to customers' demands, this agent finds the appropriate manufacturer that further finds the appropriate supplier and distributor on the basis of discovering Web services so as to provide the needed product or service. The discovery of Web services is only the first step followed by the processes of invocation, composition and interoperation of Web services in the seamless integration of supply chain. The semantic descriptions of Web services provided by OWL-S would facilitate the automation of the above processes.