An Agent-based Cross-enterprise Resource Planning for Small and Medium Enterprises

Worldwide cooperation among manufacturing companies is increasingly gaining importance for facing emerging challenges in manufacturing. The traditional Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) systems cannot satisfy the needs of the global market as they are deployed only within an enterprise. A more flexible, comprehensive and integrated methodology is required to overcome distance barriers, facility sharing problems and communication obstacles. These issues have lead to the concept of Virtual CIM (VCIM). In this paper, the limitations of the current agent based implementation of the VCIM concept are analyzed. New approaches to addressing these limitations are demonstrated and development of an Agent based Cross-enterprise Resource Planning for Small and Medium Enterprises is proposed.