A multi-level and multi-agent approach to modeling and solving supply chain problems

Abstract

Supply chain problems cover several aspects at different levels and areas. There are decision on production allocation, resource allocation, production and inventory quantities, distributor selection, choice of transportation mode etc. There are many constraints in the supply chain problems. They concern the following areas (production, distribution, transport, etc.) and types (linear, non-linear, integer, logical, etc.). Therefore it is important effective modeling and solving constraints. We consider a multi-level and multi-agent approach to modeling and solving supply chain problems using constraint and mathematical programming environments. Its efficiency results from the multi-level presolving and multi-agent architecture. An illustrative example presents effectiveness of the proposed approach. The presented approach will be compared with classical mathematical programming on the same data sets.