This paper describes a multi-agent decisio11 support system coiled Sd (Supply Cham Smart Coordmatiml) that aims at offering an mtegrated e11vironment to bener 111lJMge dynamic supply chams by covering the productiml, distribution and sales chams. Reliable, timely and mteroperable iliformation are exchanged among the supply chain members in XML by means of a worlr,flowdriven and CORBA-based platform, supportmg the user in smart decisimlmalcing. This work has been developed in the scope of the /ST DAMASCOS project, focusing on the fashion supply chams of SMEs. The general problem and framework are described, and some results are shown and discussed

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In a Virtual Enterprise scenario the management of the supply-chain is a complex task, especially when some degrees of flexibility are envisaged to be supported. This paper intends to show an approach to improve the quality of this management in order to avoid business chaos. More preciselly, it is introduced a set of specialized software modules named Advanced Coordination Functionalities (ACFs), which take end-user feedback into account to solve important problems during coordination actions within the VE scenario. The study of ACFs is motivated and required by the Prodnet-ll ESPRIT project.

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This work addresses the supply-chain coordination in the virtual

This paper presents a system called SC 2 , which has been developed based on the business intelligence paradigm in order to better support the management of dynamic supply chains. SC 2 is a multi-agent decision support system that offers an integrated environment for dealing with the production, distribution and sales chains. Via a lean interface based on XML and CORBA, SC 2 can obtain reliable, timely and interoperable information from the supply chain members, comprising a number of heterogeneous information sources and legacy systems. Results are presented and discussed at the end of the paper.

While single-domain and application-specific “organized networks” are known and have been in use throughout history, the concept of virtual organizations (VO) as such is very young (Camarinha-Matos, Banahan, & Sousa, 2004). In addition, virtual organizations encompass a wide range of typologies in structure, topology, and time span, as well as life cycle coverage (Karvonen, Salkari, & Ollus, 2005). Even though specific categories of VOs are more and more understood (i.e. supply chains, extended enterprises and other types of networks) and systematically supported by dedicated methods and tools, the “management” of their activities in terms of fostering the coordinated target achievement is still in its beginnings. Hence the management of generic VOs is even less systematically researched, which in itself constitutes a major challenge. It is important to note that VO management is about the management of business processes going over and across the VO members, it is not about the management of the constituent members themselves. VO management denotes the organization, allocation, and coordination of resources and their activities, as well as their interorganizational dependencies, to achieve the objectives of the VO within the required time, cost, and quality frame (ECOLEAD, 2005).

The main contribution of this work lies in giving rise and triggering further research towards the development of software dedicated to the VE management, since this is just an attempt to give direction to a complex problem. This paper introduces a model describing a basic set of services aiming to support the management of important situations arising during the creation and operation phases of VEs in manufacturing contexts. The model contemplates a study of some cases related with the supply chain of Akros company. All this work has been motivated by the Esprit project Prodnet-II.