Distributed optimisation of a logistic system and its suppliers using ant colonies
- 20 June 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Systems Science
- Vol. 37 (8), 503-512
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00207720600784452
Abstract
This paper introduces a new multi-agent approach for collaborative management of logistic and supply systems based on the ant colony optimisation (ACO) meta-heuristic. The logistic system and its suppliers can be modelled as partners of a supply chain. The management methodology is defined as a set of distributed scheduling problems that exchange information during the optimisation process. Each problem is solved by an ant colony agent that uses the pheromone matrix as the communication platform. A simulation example shows that the proposed coordination mechanism improves the supply-chain performance compared to a traditional management approach, where both problems are considered separately.Keywords
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