Innovative SCM. A wireless solution to smartly coordinate the supply processes via a web‐based, real‐time system
| Published date | 01 July 2006 |
| Pages | 304-340 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/03055720610703597 |
| Date | 01 July 2006 |
| Author | Javad Soroor,Mohammad J. Tarokh |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Innovative SCM
A wireless solution to smartly coordinate
the supply processes via a web-based,
real-time system
Javad Soroor and Mohammad J. Tarokh
Postgraduate Information Technology Engineering Group,
Department of Industrial Engineering,
K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Purpose – As the technology evolves, the ways in which supply chain is coordinated improve.
During a careful study on the intelligent wireless web (IWW) and its services for future applications,
its great potentials for the implementation of a mobile real-time system for supply chain coordination
were realized. This paper seeks to introduce a development process for the IWW. In addition, it aims to
explain the concept of mobile real-time supply chain coordination, and propose and describe a practical
model for this subject matter based on the most recent technologies including the IWW and agents.
Design/methodology/approach – Objectives were achieved through a thorough study on the
IWW, agent technology, and the ways of applying them for mobile real-time coordination in supply
processes. As a method to conduct the research, first, the paper made out what the IWW services are
and how one may develop them. Since mobile real-time coordination is an absolutely innovative
concept, the study prepared a comprehensive understanding of it and then, a practical framework was
sketched and explained to implement the suggested system. The approach to this topic was a realistic
one and an attempt was made to include all the prerequisites and details for the intended system.
Findings – In the course of the work, it was found that the IWW and other corresponding
technologies have the greatest potentials ever available for the realization of a mobile real-time supply
chain coordination system and most of the chapters illustrate the claim.
Originality/value – Mobile real-time coordination and its use in supply chains is something new.
The development process for IWW proposed here is totally practicable and no other implementation
scenario for the application of the IWW in mobile real-time coordination has been suggested yet.
Keywords Real time scheduling,Communication technologies,Wireless,
Intelligent manufacturing systems,Worldwide web
Paper type Conceptual paper
1. Introduction
Supply chain is the network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities, and
suppliers that participate in the sale, delivery, and production of a particular product
(Kaihara, 2003). It is also defined to be “the integration of key business processes from end
user through original suppliers that provides products, services, and information that add
value for customers and other stakeholders” (Liu et al., 2005). Effectively integrating the
information and material flows within the demand and supply process is the main
concern for supply chain management (SCM). There are numerous potentials for
enhanced productivity, cost reduction, and customer service (Tarokh and Soroor, 2006a).
The global extension of many supply networks means that their members are
increasingly geographically dispersed working across time zones, numerous
organizational boundaries, and a variety of cultures. These teams are often quickly
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VINE: The journal of information and
knowledge management systems
Vol. 36 No. 3, 2006
pp. 304-340
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0305-5728
DOI 10.1108/03055720610703597
brought together and coordinated in nearly real-time to deliver a production project or
a special service within limited time and resources. At the same time, the coordination
processes that chain members are engaged in, have increased in complexity in the
recent years and have become more information-intensive. Very often chain members
are involved in several supply processes at the same time. Under these circumstances,
communications and real-time coordination between mobile and distributed supply
chain members is difficult, making the need for an efficient communica tions
infrastructure that provides reliable on-demand access to both supply process
information and related personnel more acute (Tarokh and Soroor, 2006b).
Recent trends towards the convergence of wireless communications and internet-based
technologies have the potential to open new avenues of mobile collaboration, thereby
minimizing the impact of the physical dispersion of supply chain members. In the recent
past, a wide range of portable wireless devices have emerged based on personal area
networking (e.g. Bluetooth), local area networking (e.g. IEEE 802.11), and wireless wide
area networking (e.g. GSM, GPRS, 3G). Parallel advances in other internet-based
technologies such as the semantic web, web services, agent technologies, coupled with the
improved wireless bandwidth and the ability to better capture context information can
efficiently be used to support mobile real-time supply chain coordination (Tarokh and
Soroor, 2006b).
Intelligent wireless web (IWW) integrates artificial intelligence and wireless
technology into the world wide web in order to make it more powerful and more tuned
to the real needs of the user (Alesso and Smith, 2002).
In this paper, we first provide a comprehensive discussion on the vision of the
IWW-based services. In the second section, we have outlined the building blocks and
envision of the IWW. Section 3 points out the development process for the IWW by means
of five fundamental, state-of-the-art technological areas. In section 4, the reader can
further enhance his/her knowledge of what “mobile real-time supply chain coordination”
(MRSCC) is and what is expected from it. In the succeeding section, in nine sub-sections,
we have presented the results from our research on the role of the IWW as the most
appropriate enabler of MRSCC. It provides the necessary understanding for the realization
of the intelligent wireless web services applied in our framework for a typical MRSCC
architecture in section 6. In that section, the suggested architecture will be explained and
discussed in full details from different points of view. Both technological and semantic
integration concerns are covered, a practical, comprehensive scenario to implement the
MRSCC system is specified, and a discussion on the challenges faced by intelligent agents
is provided. We come to an end by a section on concluding remarks.
2. Making the web intelligent and wireless
2.1. Aspects of the IWW
The most popular definition for the IWW is a “network that provides anytime, anywhere
access to information resources with efficient user interfaces and applications that learn
and thereby provide increasingly useful services whenever and wherever needed” (Alesso
and Smith, 2002). The idea of IWW goes beyond merely connecting mobile devices to the
Internet. It encompasses the creation of a pervasive, user-centered mobile work
environment, which has the ability to provide highly specific data and services to users on
as-needed basis (i.e. in real-time), by intelligent interpretation of the user context. The key
buildingblocksoftheIWWareshowninFigure1.
Innovative SCM:
a wireless
solution
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The IWW builds on the existing information and communication technologies (ICT)
infrastructure, and its key feature is the separation of data from presentation and
applications. This separation allows the reuse of the existing desktop-based ICT
infrastructure for service delivery to both wired and wireless users. High bandwidth
wireless technologies provide the vital communication link between the wired back-end
and the wireless front-end. The semantic intelligence layer enables knowledge description
(using ontologies) and knowledge access (by supporting information retrieval, extraction
and processing). The web services layer ensure dynamic discovery of resources and
resource integration. Adherence to web services standards would allow mobile workers or
their agents an ability to share data and dynamically invoke capabilities from other
applications in a multi-domain, multi-technology, heterogeneous environment. The Agent
layer plays the key role in addressing issues such as security, negotiation, personalization
and web service procurement. Context-aware technologies play a key role by intelligent
interpretation of the user context, based on various parameters such as location, time,
profile, user task etc. All the aforementioned technologies can cooperate to realize the
vision of the IWW (Tarokh and Soroor, 2006b).
2.2. Towards the IWW
To envision the future of the web (i.e. IWW), perhaps it would just take some basic
knowledge, a little imagination, a dash of adventure, and pinch of insight. We might
find that it is as easy as one, two, and three (Alesso and Smith, 2002):
(1) we merge the next generation internet (NGI) with Internet2;
(2) we experiment with interactive intelligent programs; and
(3) we improve the user interface with speech recogn ition, while extending
connectivity through wireless devices.
Figure 1.
Building blocks of the
IWW
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