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Swarm is a multi-agent software platform for the simulation of complex
adaptive systems. In the Swarm system the basic unit of simulation is the
swarm, a collection of agents executing a schedule of actions. Swarm
supports hierarchical modeling approaches whereby agents can be
composed of swarms of other agents in nested structures (Minar,
Burkhart, Langton & Askenazi, 1996).
While a number of researchers have used Swarm to simulate supply chains
(e.g., (Fulkerson & Staffend, 1997)), we choose the supply chain simulation
framework developed by Strader, Lin and Shaw (1996, 1998, 1999). In their
framework, an entity (or node) in supply chain network (SCN) ...
is composed of several agents, such as an order management agent, an
inventory management agent, and a SCN management agent. An entity
with manufacturing capability includes a production planning agent, a
capacity planning agent, a materials planning agent, a shop floor control
agent, and manufacturing systems agent. A SCN Entity Swarm holds
entity level information such as suppliers, customers, order transfer
delay time, and product delivery time, which are accessible by internal
agents and other entities. The encapsulated agents perform certain
functions in enabling the movement of information and material within
the entity and between entities.—(Strader et al., 1999)
In Strader et al. (1999), Strader, Lin and Shaw describe the interactions
among these node subprocesses.
... an entity ScnESwarm A receives an order from its customer ScnESwarm
C. The order flows to the order management agent (OrdM). According to
the customer lead times, the inventory availability information (from InvM),
the production plan (from PrdP), and the manufacturing capacity (CapP), the
order management agent assigns a due date to the order. If the products are
in stock, the order is filled by shipping the products from inventory. If the
products are in receiving, the due date is set according to the delivery date of
the products.
For an entity with manufacturing capability, the order is forwarded to
the production-planning agent (PrdP) where the schedule for making the