Agent-Based Digital Networking in Furniture Manufacturing Enterprises

International competition and varying customer needs commonly cause small and medium furniture manufacturing enterprises to join dynamically- formed, ‘smart’ enterprise networks, established and operating using digital information technologies. In this paper, we propose a technological approach to support such enterprise networks which is primarily based on the use of software agents. First we outline the reasons motivating networking in furniture manufacturing enterprises and we briefly present core smart enterprise network concepts. Subsequently, we provide an overview of the main technologies currently used to support enterprise networks, and we make the case for utilising service-orientation and adaptive, (semi-) autonomous software components, such as software agents. Furthermore, we propose a four-tier software architectural framework based on software agents and web services, and we briefly describe the requirements, the architecture and main features of the e-Furn software system, which is based on that framework. Finally, we discuss the intelligent recommendation feature of e-Furn.

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