Multi‐plant purchase co‐ordination based on multi‐agent system in an ATO environment

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to deal with the problem of multi‐plant purchase coordination in an assemble‐to‐order (ATO) environment, when volume discount schedules are provided by each of the suppliers.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses linear programming and a multi‐agent system to coordinate multi‐plant purchasing activities in order to minimize the total purchasing cost.

Findings

An integrated linear programming model and multi‐agent approach is perfectly suited to the purchase coordination in multi‐plant organizations in order to achieve the global profit.

Originality/value

The proposed model provides an effective and efficient coordination mechanism that helps multi‐plant organization and suppliers to maintain the availability of materials in the right quantity, with the right quality and at minimum possible cost.

Citation

Oboulhas, T., Xu, X. and Zhan, D. (2005), "Multi‐plant purchase co‐ordination based on multi‐agent system in an ATO environment", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 654-669. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410380510609492