Supply chain event management is critical to the success of any company that relies on the flow of goods and services. Disruptions in supply chains can have a ripple effect throughout an organization, often leading to reduced revenue and higher costs for both customers and suppliers. In order to proactively manage these events, companies must manage supply chain activities from end to end. But how can companies ensure that all members within their supply chain act as one cohesive unit?
Agent Technology
The term agent technology is used to describe software that can act on behalf of a user. The software uses AI-based algorithms and machine learning to learn how best to perform tasks, without being told what to do. It can then use this knowledge in order to complete tasks in the future.
Agent technology has been around for decades, but it wasn’t until recently that the field began developing at a rapid pace because of its potential applications in supply chain event management (SCEM). This is particularly true given the increasing volume of data coming from SCEM tools and sensors, which makes it increasingly difficult for humans to process so much information manually. Agent technology can help SCEM teams automate some or all processes related to processing data from sensors, logs and other sources necessary for assessing risks associated with disruptions in supply chains or predicting significant events before they occur.
Supply chain event management
Proactive supply chain event management is the proactive detection and management of events in the supply chain. Events can be internal or external to the supply chain. Internal supply chain events are events that happen inside the supply chain, while external ones occur outside it. Examples of internal events include employee misconduct and changes in customer demand (e.g., reduction of orders). Examples of external ones include natural disasters, acts of war, or political disruptions.
Supply chain event management is important because it allows companies to prevent or mitigate losses due to disruptions within their supply chains before they actually occur by identifying potential threats early on before they become hard-to-fix problems down the road (i.e., when something bad has already happened).
Agent-based supply chain event management
Agent based supply chain event management as well as event management software like Eventtia, can be used by organizations to track and respond to events, automate tasks and reduce human error. It involves the use of software agents that operate autonomously on behalf of users. Agents are computer programs that act like sentient beings with the ability to make decisions based on pre-programmed rules or an artificial intelligence program. They work independently from other components in the system but collaborate with other agents to achieve a common goal.
Agent technology can help organizations improve their proactive supply chain event management strategies by using multiple agents for different purposes:
- Agent 1 – monitors trends in data from various sources and alerts when anomalies occur (e.g., unusual movement in inventory levels).
- Agent 2 – automatically gathers information from databases and analyzes it for patterns that may indicate future problems (e.g., delays in shipping orders).
- Agent 3 – uses process knowledge acquired through previous interactions with customers or suppliers, applies machine learning techniques to generate new insights into forecasting demand, adjusting production schedules according to predicted demand levels, and improving customer service quality by providing accurate lead times upfront before placing an order with suppliers
An agent-based framework to proactively manage supply chain events
Agents can be programmed to take action based on their knowledge of the supply chain. It is software that can be used to manage events proactively.
Supply chain events are categorized as follows:
- Sensor-based detection of an event
- Alerts from external sources (e-mail, text message, etc.)
- Internal alerts from other software systems like ERP or WMS systems
Case study using the agent-based framework
Supply chain event management is a proactive approach to identify and preemptively manage supply chain challenges. It can be used to prevent, detect, respond and/or recover from supply chain events.
Imagine a supplier selling raw materials. This supplier has a large inventory of raw materials which he sells to many customers across the globe who use these products in their manufacturing processes for producing finished goods for sale to consumers. These customers may also have their own suppliers and multiple sales channels (e.g., retail outlets). The supplier wants to proactively manage his supply chain events so that he can prevent them from occurring or at least reduce their impact when they do occur by quickly identifying their root cause(s) before it spreads through his network (i.e., downstream effect) causing significant financial losses (e.g., loss of business).
He uses an agent-based framework that allows him to track the location of each product on its journey through all his distribution channels at any given point in time during transportation or storage phases until it reaches its final destination – either back into inventory or sold into end markets where it will become part of another product cycle before returning back into this same cycle again (i..e.. recycling).
An agent-based framework can be a useful tool for managing supply chain events.
Agent technology has the potential to help manage supply chain events effectively and efficiently. An agent-based framework can be a useful tool for managing supply chain events. The use of agent technology to support proactive event management is still at an early stage, but this technology could have a significant impact on how organizations respond to disruptions and other problems in their supply chains.
Agent technology can significantly help with proactive supply chain event management.
As the demand for supply chain event management becomes increasingly more complex and challenging, agent technology can significantly help with proactive supply chain event management. Agents are self-controlled software entities that can perform tasks independently of human intervention. Because of their unique characteristics, agents can be used to manage supply chain events efficiently.
First, agents have the ability to collaborate with each other and communicate information related to their surroundings (such as location) over networks like the Internet or intranet infrastructure. This makes it possible for multiple agents in different locations around the globe to provide input into one another’s decision-making process, leading to better decision outcomes than manual methods such as emailing reports back and forth between individuals.
In addition, because agents are designed specifically for tasks like sourcing new suppliers or managing inventory levels, they do not get distracted by other work activities unrelated to these objectives such as drafting emails about nonessential topics. Agents also have greater autonomy than humans; therefore there is little room for error when using their services since there is no chance of forgetting important details when communicating across distances like oceans or mountains.
Conclusion
We have discussed the importance of supply chain event management and presented a framework that uses agent technology to proactively manage supply chain events. The framework has been implemented in a case study that shows how it can be used in practice. This approach will be very useful in helping companies deal with disruptions, as well as improving their overall performance.