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Thechangingroleofinformationtechnologyinfoodandbeveragelogisticsmanagement:beveragenetworkoptimisationusingintelligentagenttechnologyEleniManginaa,IliasP.Vlachosb,*aDepartmentofComputerScience,UniversityCollegeofDublin,Belfield,Dublin4,IrelandbAgribusinessLaboratory,AgriculturalEconomicsDepartment,AgriculturalUniversityofAthens,IeraOdos75,Botanikos11855,Athens,GreeceReceived1October2003;receivedinrevisedform10January2004;accepted18February2004Availableonline9December2004AbstractThelastdecades,advancesininformationtechnologiesandincreasedcompetitionhavechangedthebusinessenvironmentinthefoodandbeveragesindustry,particularlyintheEuropeanUnion,whichischaracterisedbytheproliferationofsmallandmediumenterprises.Manyfoodcompaniesarenowaggressivelyfocusingonlogisticsmanagementasthelastfrontiertogainandsustainacompetitiveadvantage.Thisstudydescribesamodelofintelligentfoodsupplychainthatimprovesefficiencywithinthesupplychain.Theaimofthepaperistodemonstratethatagenttechnologycanoptimisefoodsupplychainsby(a)reviewingintelligentagentsapplicationsforsupplychainoptimisationand(b)illustratinghowamulti-agentsystemcanoptimiseperformanceofabeveragelogisticsnet-work.Firstly,wereviewandsynthesiseexistingapplicationsincomparisontotraditionalandInternet-basedtechnologiesandcrit-icallyevaluateagenttechnologyapplicabilityforsupplychainmanagement.Wemodelthebeersupplynetworktodemonstratethatproductscanacquireintelligencetodirectthemselvesthroughoutthedistributionnetwork.Optimisationagentscanhelpsolvespe-cificproblemsofbeveragesupply:reduceinventoriesandlessenbullwhipeffect,improvecommunication,andenablechaincoordi-nationwithoutadverserisksharing.Further,theygainacapabilitytobepurchasedandsoldwhileintransit.Overviewsofthesupportingtechnologiesthatmakesuchasupplychainarealityarefullydiscussed.Inparticular,optimisationagentshavethecharacteristicsofautonomousaction,beingproactive,reactive,andabletocommunicate.Wedemonstratethatagentsenhancetheflexibility,informationvisibility,andefficiencyofthesupplychainmanagement.Suggestionsandrecommenda-tionsforfurtherresearchareprovided.Simulationsoftheagent-enabledsupplyoptimisationcanbeusedtobenchmarkforfutureresearchanddevelopmentassociatedwithbuildinganoptimisationagent.
2004ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Intelligentagents;Beveragenetworkoptimisationfoodlogistics;Supplychainmanagement1.IntroductionTheEuropeanUnion(EU)istheworld
slargestpro-duceroffoodandbeverages,withacombinedproduc-tionestimatedat675billionEuros(EU-15,2001).InEU,30.000foodandagribusinesscompanies,employingabout3millionemployees,faceincreasingcompetitionintermsofquality,price,anddistributionefficiency.Thestructureoftheindustryischaracterisedbyalargepercentageofsmallcompanies.Ingeneral,over80%ofthefoodenterpriseshavelessthan50employees,whilethisfigureraisesevenfurtherintheMediterraneanareaincludingGreece.0260-8774/$-seefrontmatter
2004ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2004.02.044*Correspondingauthor.Tel.:[phone];fax:[phone].E-mailaddresses:[e-mail](E.Mangina),[e-mail],[e-mail](I.P.Vlachos).(2005)403–420ThecompetitivenessofEUfoodandbeverageindus-tryislargelydependentontheabilityoffoodcompaniestoremaincompetitiveintheglobalmarket.Foodandbeverageenterpriseshaveturnedtheirattentiontologis-ticsmanagementasthelastfrontierofgainingandsus-tainingacompetitiveadvantage(Fearne&Hughes,2000;Hayenga,2000;Lambert&Stock,1993).Logisticsoperationsarecriticalinagribusinessman-agementduetothehighconsumerstandardsforfoodqualityandsafety.Forexample,thephysicaldistribu-tionputfoodproductsindistressandmanyproductsdegradewhileonthemove.Foodproductshaveashortlifecycle–typicallybetween25and90days–thus,shortshelfcyclewhichmakeswarehousingmanagementatime-criticaloperation.Inparticular,thefoodindustryischaracterisedbyuniquefeaturesthatdifferentiateitfromtherestsectorsoftheeconomy:(a)Currentfoodqualityandsafetystandardsrequiretraceabilitywhichisthecontinuousmonitoringofproductsandagriculturalsuppliesthroughoutthesupplychain.Further,food,duetoitshighperish-ability,requiresatimeefficientsupplychain(Myoung,Park,Yang,Kang,&Chung,2001).Thesetwofactorscreateaconsiderabledemandforautomationinsupplychainbyusingadvancedinformationandcommunicationstechnologies,e.g.electronicdatainterchange(Hill&Scudder,2002).(b)Thereisaconsiderablesupplyvariationduetosea-sonalityofagriculturalproduction,weathercondi-tionsandthebiologicalnatureofagriculturalproductswhichresultsininputvariationandunpre-dictability(Salin,1998).Verticalalliancesoftenaimatsmoothingsupplyvariationandguaranteetheplanneddeliveryofsupplies(Iijima,Komatsu,&Katoh,1996).(c)TheinternationaltradeoffoodproductscontributessignificantlytoGDP.Ontheonehand,aconsider-ableportionofproductsfromthefoodsectorissoldtoasignificantnumberofinternationalmarkets.ThisimpliesahugedistributionchallengeforthefoodindustrywhentakingintoaccountonlyEU
smarkets,whicharediverseandgeographicallydis-persed.Ontheotherhand,rawmateriala