Transparent information flow in business networks by using agents

Information technology (IT) is an important enabler of effective supply chain management (SCM). Many information systems have been developed for SCM from EDI and ERP into newly developed SCM systems and e-business solutions. Recently, the use of software agent technology has received a great potential in supporting transparency in information flows of business networks. This paper introduces a business network, where shared information of the network enables an improvement of lead-time, cost efficiency and faculty for customer service in a supply chain. This paper describes the empirical research conducted as a case study in a steel product industry network in Finland and a technical description of an agent-based software solution for a business network. The empirical research is based on qualitative material (interviews, documents and models of order-delivery chains) and it is analysed as an entity. The technical research is based on a prototype of software agent architecture. The prototype is focused on manufacturing of heavy steel component in diverse engineering companies, by following the material and information flow between and within the companies.