面對全球化挑戰下，企業如何透過供應鏈管理在全球化的競爭市場以達到降低成本、提高利潤和知識分享是一個重要的課題。供應鏈管理成功的起步為從眾多供應商中挑選符合企業本身需求的廠商，透過資訊分享及合作互動，以創造良好的供應商關係。隨著資訊科技的發達，如何利用資訊科技來幫助企業選擇正確的供應商是一個急迫且待解決的問題。以往單方面收集供應商資料作成決策而選擇供應商已不符合實際買賣雙方的現況，因此，透過多重代理人架構，讓供應商選擇的過程更有彈性也更有效率。
本研究提出以多重代理人為基礎之系統(multi-agent-based system)雛型，提供買賣雙方彈性協商，買方能藉此選擇出合適供應商，以期改善傳統以單方進行供應商選擇決策系統所無法提供動態、雙方協商等問題。為因應動態環境快速的改變，利用代理人程式來分析企業對於供應商之需求，指派代理人到外部的供應商尋求適當的解決方案，應用行動代理人(mobile agent)的可移動性和多重代理人(multi-agent)的溝通模式，讓買賣雙方可以不斷互動溝通，期望可以使得企業供應商選擇流程更能符合實際過程。本研究利用多重代理人技術應用於供應商選擇問題，具體成果包含提出供應商選擇流程架構、定義代理人所扮演的角色，並透過系統實作及個案研究驗證以多重代理人為基礎所建構之供應商選擇系統，透過多重代理人架構，讓供應商選擇的過程更有彈性也更有效率。

Facing the trend of globalization, how to lower costs, improve profitability, and share knowledge through supply chain management in the competitive market is an important topic to the decision makers. Thus, selecting the appropriate manufacturers that fulfil enterprise’s demand is the first step to have a successful supply chain management. Good supplier’s relationship can be established through sharing information and cooperation. With the development of information science and technology, it is very urgent to solve the problem of how to utilize information technology to help enterprises choosing the correct supplier. The previous method of collecting data unilaterally has become impractical. Therefore, selecting suppliers would be more flexible and efficient through the multi-agent’s structure.
This research presents a prototype of multi-agent-based system, which enables both parties to consult with each other flexibly. The buyer can choose the suitable supplier through this prototype to improve supplier selection decision procedure. Due to the dynamic environment, we analyze enterprise’s demand on the supplier, appoint the agent to go to the external supplier to seek the proper solution, use the mobile agent’s mobility and way of communication of multi-agent, and enable both parties to communicate dynamically constantly. This procedure makes the supplier selection fit better to reality. This research applies multi-agent’s technology on supplier selection question. At last, this research has found that multi-agent technology makes supplier selection procedure more flexible and efficient through some case studies.

中衛簡訊(1993)，成功採購的要素，財團法人中衛發展中心。

Annapurna, Valluri. and David C. Croson. (2005) “Agent learning in supplier selection models”, Decision Support System , 39, 219– 240.

Barbarosoglu,G. and Yazgac, T. (1997) “An Application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process to the supplier Selection Problem”, Production and Inventory Management journal, 14-21.

Barbuceanu, M. and Teigen, R. and Fox, M. S. (1997) “Agent based design
and simulation of supply chain”, Proc. of the 5th Workshop on Enabling Technologies :Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises, 36-41.

Beamon, B. M. (1998) “Supply chain design and analysis: models and methods”, International Journal of Production economics, 55(3)218-294.

Benson, P. G., McClave J. T. and Sincich, T.(1998) Statistics for Business and Ecnomics,7th ed., Prentice-Hall Inc., New Jersey.

Bhutta, S.K., Huq, F. (2002) “Supplier selection problem: A comparison of the total cost of ownership and analytic hierarchy process approaches”, Supply Chain Management, 7(3)126-135.

Chaudhry, S.S, Forst, F.G. and Zydiak, J.L. (1993) “Vendor Selection With Price
Breaks”, European Journal of Operational Research, 70(1)52-56.

Choi, T.Y. and Hartley, J.L. (1996) “An exploration of supplier selection practices across the supply chain”, Journal of Operations Management, 14, 333-343.

Dickson, G..W. (1966) “An Analysis of Vender Selection Systems and Decisions”, Journal of Purchasing, 2(1)5-17.

Durfee, E. H. and Montogomery. T. A. (1989) “ MICE: A Flexible Testbed for Intelligent Coordination Experiments”, Proceedings of the 1989 Distributed Artificial Intelligence Workshop 25-40.

Ellram, Lisa M. (1990) “The Supplier Selection Decision in Strategic Partnerships”, Internal Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, 26(4)8-14.

Ellram, L. M. and Edis, O. R. V. (1996) “A Case Study of Successful Partnering
Implementation” , Internal Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management,
32(4)20-28.

Faratin, P., Sierra, C., and Jennings, N.R. (1998) “Negotiation Decision Functions for Autonomous Agents” , Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 24, 159-182.

Hinkkanen, Kalakota ,R. ,Saengcharoenrat, P., Stallaert, J. and Whinton, A.B.(1997) “Distributed Decision Support System for Real Time Supply Chain Management using Agent Technology”, Working Paper.

Houshyar, A. and David, L. (1992) “A Systematic Selection Procedure”, Computer and Industrial Engineering, 23(1-4)173-176.

Ito, T. and Salleh, M. R. (2000) “ A blackboard-based negotiation for collaborative supply chain system”, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 107, 398-403.

Jonathan F. BARD. (1992) “A Comparison Of The Analytic Hierarchy Process With Multi-attribute Utility Theory: A Case Study ”, IIE Transactions, 24, 111-121.

Lambert, D.M., and Cooper, M.C. (2000) “Issues in Supply Chain Management”, Industrial Marketing Management, 29, 65-83.

Lange, D.B. and Oshima , M. (1998) “Programming and Deploying Java Mobile Agents with Aglets”, Addition Wesley.

Lehmann, D. R. and O’Shaughnessy, J. (1982) “Decision Criteria Used in Buying Different Categories of Products”, Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, (Spring), 9-14.

Maes , P. (1994) “Agent That Reduce Work and Information Overload ”, Communication of the ACM, 37(7)30-40.

Monczka, R., Trent, R., Handfield, R. (1998) Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, International Thomson Publishing.

Nydick, R.L. and Hill, R.P. (1992) “Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process to Structure the Supplier Selection Procedure”, International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, 28(2) 31-36.

Saaty, T. L. (1980) The Analytic Hierarchy Process, McGraw-Hill, New York.

San, M. (1998) Intelligent agents on the Internet and Web, IEEE Region 10.

Stuart, I. F. (1993) “ Supplier partnerships: influencing factors and Strategic benefits”, International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, 29(4)22–28.

Stuart, F. I. and Mueller, P. (1994) “Total Quality Management and Supplier Partnership :A Case Study”, International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, 30(1)13-21.

Swaminathan, J. M., Sadeh, N. M. and Smith, S. F. (1995) “Information exchange in
supply chains”, Technical Report, CMU-RI-TR-95-36, Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburg, PA.

Swaminathan, J. M. (1998) “Modeling supply chain dynamics: A multi-agent approach ”, Decision Sciences, 29(3)607-631.

Timmerman, E. (1986) “An Approach to Supplier Performance Evaluation”, Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, 22(4)27-32.

Watts, G.A. (1992) “Work value, attitudes and motivation of women employed in
administrative support occupation”, Journal of Career Development,19, 49-64.

Weber, C.A., Current, J.R. and Benton, W.C. (1991) “ Vendor selection criteria and methods”, European Journal of Operational Research, 50(1)2-18.

Weber, C.A. and Current, J.R. (1993) “A Multi-objective Approach to Vendor Selection ”, European Journal of Operational Research, 68(2)173-184.

Wilson, E.J. ( 1994) “The Relative Importance of Supplier Selection Criteria: A Review and Update” , International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, 30(3)35-41.
Wooldridge, M. and Jennings, N. R. (1994) “Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages: A Survey”, in Proceedings ECAI-Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages,1-32.
Wooldridge, M. and Jennings, N. R. (1995) “Intelligent agents: Theory and practice”, The Knowledge Engineering Review, 10(2)115-152.

Wooldridge, M., Sycara, K. and Jennings, N. R. (1998) “A Roadmap of Agent Research and Development”, Autonomous Agents and Multi-agent Systems, Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1, 275-306.

Zanakis, S.H., Solomon, A., Wishart, N. and Dublish, S. (1998) “Multi-attribute Decision Making: A Simulation Comparison of Select Methods”, European Journal of Operational Research, 107(3)507-529.