Agent-based optimisation of logistics and production planning

Manufacturing and logistics service provision enterprises are now moving towards open architectures for integrating their activities with those of their suppliers, customers and partners within wide supply chain networks. Agent-based technology provides a natural way to design and implement such environments. This paper presents an agent-based approach for optimising logistics and production planning whilst taking into account availability and cost of logistic providers. Emphasis is given on efficient negotiation mechanisms based on extended contracting protocol. The agent infrastructure is being developed within the context of Agentcities, a successful EU funded agent system interoperation initiative. The proposed approach is demonstrated in a case study concerning optimisation of production planning of a virtual manufacturing enterprise in relation to sub-contracted logistic services used to transport the materials between the enterprise units.