The development and validation of agent-based communication and negotiation models for apparel supply chain management

The thesis identifies the problem of inaccurate communication among supply chain partners, the unbalance between production capacity and the product due date and the effects of bid/offer price on supply chain cost during negotiation process.In this research, agent technology is used to facilitate decision making in negotiation procedure among major supply chain partners so as to enhance the coordination in the apparel supply chain.A simulation model based on Java platform is developed to emulate the interaction and communication of agents representing different partners in the apparel supply chain. The system describes the overall communication of agents in the apparel supply chain and represents a range of supply chain situations. To specify the negotiation process, another simulation model based on the software ZEUSRTM is built to display the negotiation procedure.Based on the agent-based negotiation model, an optimized negotiation model has been developed. To study and compare different negotiation strategies, the optimized negotiation model is proposed to have two negotiators involved, namely the manufacture agent and the supplier agent. Delivery date and price are considered as two major negotiation issues in this model. Three negotiation strategies (GA, SA, GSAA) with artificial algorithms are embedded into the optimization model to increase negotiation efficiency. In addition, a mathematical decision model have been built to support the decision requirements of the determination on price and delivery date and to assist obtaining an optimal due date and bargain price so that mutual profit can be maximized and supply chain cost minimized.Evaluation was achieved by comparison of different negotiation strategies adopting SA, GA and GSAA so that the optimal and ideal result can he verified. Industrial data was utilized to prove the feasibility of the agent-based negotiation model.On the whole, the simulation model was developed to explore the integration of artificial intelligence with human negotiation, probe on the improvement of negotiation strategy with optimized algorithms and study the effect of negotiation strategy (price, delivery date) on supply chain cost, mutual profit and production balance in an agent-based apparel supply chain.