Masters Abstracts (1999)

RAMAKRISHNAN, SREERAM
(July 1999), Assistant Professor, Engineering Management Department, University of Missouri, Rolla, MO

Email: sreeram@umr.edu

Procurement Lead Time Reduction in an EMS Facility Using an Agent Based System

A comprehensive 'supply chain mapping effort' was performed at a typical EMS provider's facility, with a specific focus on the procurement process. A distributed intelligent agent-based system, 'SUNY IntelliPro', was designed based on a business process model derived from the results of this 'mapping' effort. This system is capable of sending a 'Request For Quote' (RFQ) to each of the suppliers mentioned in the Accepted (or Approved) Vendor Lists (AVLs), analyzing the responses to RFQs, and selecting a potential supplier to place a procurement order. Another agent in the aglet system then estimates the total cost of the assembly, and informs the customer. 'SUNY IntelliPro' is capable of placing orders for the different components, upon the customer's approval of the quote. The system described in this thesis uses concepts of Artificial Intelligence (Al), mobile agents, and Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).