Collaborative software agents in steel product industry

In recent years there has been increasing work where software agents have been used in manufacturing enterprises. Improving the information flow within the company and between the collaborative companies is very important to increase the competitive position and profitability. Networked manufacturing enterprises are now moving towards open information exchange for integrating their activities with those of their suppliers, customers, and partners within wide supply chain networks. In manufacturing processes, agents can support the integration of predictive models, process planning, and shop floor machining activities. Software agents can also be used to integrate manufacturing applications with the business applications. This paper presents how agents can be exploited for manufacturing enterprise integration and supply chain management to meet such requirements in steel and its related industries