Coordinating a cooperative automotive manufacturing network - An agent-based model

Abstract

One of the problems to be solved in manufacturing networks, with several production centers, is the selection of a suitable manufacturer for each component in order to obtain competitive costs while making full use of the network's capacity. A solution is to own redundant information channels which, despite offering the network greater resilience, generate high costs. The coordination of the nodes in the manufacturing network could lower materials and information flows, thus cutting lead times and total costs, and regulating the system's total productive capacity. This work proposes a coordination model that centralizes materials and information flows, and cuts the costs and overall lead times. It also makes the self-adjustment of productive capacity possible. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.