Knowledge-based service system for supply chain management

A perennial problem with running modern e-business systems is to manage supply chains cost-effectively. To get the maximum efficiency a higher degree of automation is required. This research intends a preliminary step towards automated supply chain integration and optimization through a research prototype that models supply chain management scenarios. It will show under such an approach potential cost and timesavings, as well as an optimization strategy that could be delivered in a real-time fashion. Additionally an empirical study using the prototype will be undertaken to show the difference between combinatorial and heuristically guided optimization rules in optimization of supply chains. The prototype will use Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) techniques to initialize, coordinate and monitor the supply chains.