Managing Product Information in Supplier Networks by Object Oriented Programming Concepts

As the number of companies participating in the manufacturing of products increases, the challenges on managing product related information over its life cycle also increase. A major issue is how to manage productrelated information when it is created and stored on computer systems of multiple companies. Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a well-tested framework for managing information in computer programming. In this paper, we emphasize the similarities between OOP and product agent based information management models for handling product information. The well-known OOP concept of design patterns is shown to be applicable also to managing product information in supplier networks. The composite and observer design patterns are applied to two typical information management tasks using product agents. Their implementation as middleware software components is outlined, together with results obtained from pilot installations in a multi-company environment.