On Implementing Autonomous Supply Chains: a Multi-Agent System Approach (2310.09435v2)

Abstract: Trade restrictions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical conflicts have significantly exposed vulnerabilities within traditional global supply chains. These events underscore the need for organisations to establish more resilient and flexible supply chains. To address these challenges, the concept of the autonomous supply chain (ASC), characterised by predictive and self-decision-making capabilities, has recently emerged as a promising solution. However, research on ASCs is relatively limited, with no existing studies specifically focusing on their implementations. This paper aims to address this gap by presenting an implementation of ASC using a multi-agent approach. It presents a methodology for the analysis and design of such an agent-based ASC system (A2SC). This paper provides a concrete case study, the autonomous meat supply chain, which showcases the practical implementation of the A2SC system using the proposed methodology. Additionally, a system architecture and a toolkit for developing such A2SC systems are presented. Despite limitations, this work demonstrates a promising approach for implementing an effective ASC system.

• The paper presents a MAS-based methodology for designing and implementing autonomous supply chains to enhance resilience and efficiency.
• It details a comprehensive system architecture and toolkit, including agent communication protocols and integration techniques for distributed supply entities.
• A case study on an autonomous meat supply chain validates the approach while identifying limitations and guiding future research for advanced decision-making.

The paper introduces a Multi-Agent System (MAS) approach to implement an autonomous supply chain (ASC), proposing a methodology for analysis and design of an agent-based ASC system (A2SC). The paper presents a case paper of an autonomous meat supply chain to showcase the practical implementation of the A2SC system using the proposed methodology. Additionally, the paper reports a system architecture and a toolkit for A2SC prototype development.

The authors identify trade restrictions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical conflicts as events that exposed vulnerabilities within traditional global supply chains, which highlights the need for organizations to establish more resilient and flexible supply chains. To this end, the ASC, characterized by predictive and self-decision-making capabilities, is presented as a solution.

Here's a breakdown of the key aspects and contributions of the paper:

Motivation and Background:

• Traditional supply chains exhibit limited agility and resilience, relying heavily on manual processes that introduce communication delays and human errors.
• Intelligent digital technologies, such as AI and robotics, are penetrating the supply chain domain, automating various processes. However, these automation efforts mainly focus on individual processes, with limited integration.
• ASCs emphasize interconnection, integration, automation, and self-decision-making, offering a solution to address challenges in an uncertain and turbulent business environment.
• The paper aims to address the gap in the technical aspects of ASCs by focusing on the technical implementation of ASCs, employing a MAS approach.

Agent-based Autonomous Supply Chain (A2SC):

• MAS approaches are well-suited for architecturally modeling supply chains because they achieve distributed problem-solving through multiple intelligent agents interacting within a shared environment.
• The paper investigates the creation of an A2SC system that facilitates interoperability and automation among distributed heterogeneous supply chain entities.
• Automated processes, which are constituent building blocks for ASCs, can be managed through a set of structural entities. In A2SCs, these structural entities can be represented by software agents, autonomously managing its internal entities and interacting with external entities.

Methodology for Analysis and Design of A2SC Systems:

• The adapted methodology for the analysis and design of ASC systems, derived from the Gaia and ROADMAP methodologies, comprises five key stages, each of which involves specific primary tasks and output models: Requirement Analysis, System Analysis, Architectural Design, Detailed Design, and Implementation Design.
• These stages involve structural, social, and semantic artifacts to contribute to the analysis and design of an ASC system, providing conceptual models for subsequent development phrase.
• The authors tackle Decomposition and Organization, Acquaintance and Interaction, Interaction Protocol and Communication Language, and Vocabulary and Knowledge Representation when applying a MAS approach.

Case Study: Autonomous Meat Supply Chain:

• The authors selected the meat supply chain, a particular perishable foods supply chain, as the case for paper to address the procurement of meat, specifically implementing an end-to-end automated meat procurement process.
• The prototype is based upon a scenario where the Cambridge Meat Company (CMC) specializes in wholesale meat procurement and supplies local restaurants and seeks automation in selection of bids from suppliers, monitoring of the logistics process, adaptation to unforeseen events, and evaluation of the quality of both the logistics service and the supplied products.
• The prototype includes two primary processes: replenishment (the CMC procures meat from its suppliers to replenish its inventory) and wholesale (the retailer buys meat from the CMC).
• The authors identified five distinct types of roles: suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, logistics providers, and 3PL provider, and each with their corresponding primary services. Each of these roles can be represented by individual agents, serving as the structural entities within the scope of their respective organizations.

Connection Mechanism:

• The paper presents two mechanisms for agent connection: Open Economic Framework (OEF) based connection and HTTP-based connection.

Agent Interactions, Language and Protocols:

• The implementation incorporates two types of interaction protocols for facilitating interactions: the contract net protocol and the HTTP protocol. The agent communication language defines the message format, and in this paper, FIPA-ACL is used as the language for agent communication.

Implementation:

• The authors used Python as the primary language for developing the backend of this prototype, while other languages such as HTML and JavaScript were used for creating the frontend interfaces.
• To streamline the development process, the authors leveraged a toolkit consisting of the AEA (Autonomous Economic Agent) Framework, OEF (Open Economic Framework), REST, OpenAPI, WebSockets, Django and Django Channels, Leaflet and OpenStreetMap, and Chart.js.
• The A2SC prototype primarily consists of two main parts: an agent network and an interface web application, which uses a microservice architecture to integrate these components using RESTful APIs and WebSockets.

Limitations and Future Work:

• The authors note that this prototype may not strictly qualify as a complete ASC, but is instead an experimental proof of concept aligned with the MISSI model.
• For representation, the authors primarily addressed how to represent the service that agents can offer and some data objects in the scenario, such as purchase orders and receipts. Regarding decision-making, the approach was rule-based and relatively simplistic.
• The automation dimension of this prototype mainly focuses on automating data flow and process execution.
• The prototype includes two distinct processes: replenishment and wholesale, and both processes can be initiated manually by a user.
• The authors intend to address these limitations in future work by focusing on development of appropriate languages for agent communication and content representation within A2SCs, designing or introducing protocols capable of handling more complex scenarios, scaling up the problem, and conducting experiments in less restricted setting.
• Furthermore, the authors plan to explore the potential applications of emerging technologies and concepts within ASCs, such as Digital Twin (DT) and artificial general intelligence (AGI).