A DCOR-based MAS framework to support design chain cooperation

This paper presents a multi-agent system (MAS) framework developed on the design chain operations reference-model (DCOR) to support the cooperation between the original design manufacturer (ODM) company and its suppliers. The framework is composed of three phases. Under the consideration of design chain goals, the DC operations analysis phase plans and models the DC processes with DCOR standard notations from Level 1 to Level 3 while the specific implementation practices are modeled with event- driven process chain (EPC) diagram at Level 4. Next, in the MAS specification design phase, the required roles and behaviors will be extracted from DCOR Level 4 models. And then, the agent classes and their interaction will be determined to support the required roles and behaviors. Finally, the MAS implementation phase will implement the MAS specification on the JADE platform to support the cooperation between the ODM company and its suppliers.