Adopting agent technology in information sharing and networking:Dissertation

• Main Author: Helaakoski, Heli
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland 2007
• Subjects: agents; agent technology; ontologies; agent communication; business networks; information sharing; networking; supply chain management; SteelNet; industrial networks; Northern Finland
• Online Access: https://cris.vtt.fi/en/publications/6daa3a10-cbad-4dad-8488-651fd12b4547; https://publications.vtt.fi/pdf/publications/2007/P671.pdf

The thesis is concerned with the adoption of agent technology in information sharing and networking. Companies are networking with changing partners, and information sharing among enterprises with heterogeneous system environments is increasing all the time. Since the types and sizes of the networked companies vary, flexible and effective information sharing systems are needed. Networking systems have to conform to the requirements of different information technology structures and different information representation formats. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular need flexible and effective networking solutions. The thesis reviews the use of agent-based applications in industrial environments, and especially in the area of supply chain management. Agents are autonomous, problem-solving computational entities capable of effective operation in dynamic and open environments, and they are therefore able to provide a suitable solution for complex process management among networked companies. The thesis proposes the agent-based system called SteelNet as a networking system for a business network. The area of application of the SteelNet system is supply chain management in a real-world business network. The design and implementation of an agent-based system for a case business network is described. The aim of the research was to consider the adoption of agents for supply chain management in collaborative enterprises as compared with other approaches. The system described here was designed, implemented and tested in a real-life case, a business network in northern Finland. The SteelNet agent-based solution consisted of collaborative task-specific agents representing companies and various activities in the business network. The basis of agent communication and collaboration is domain ontology, which describes the concepts of the area of application. The SteelNet system is built up on a JADE agent platform. The result of this research is a SteelNet agent-based system which provides information sharing and ...