Distributed production planning

prenna Normal Paolo Renna 2 8 2009-12-17T18:23:00Z 2009-12-17T18:23:00Z 2 840 4788 Microsoft 39 11 5617 12.00 false 14 false false false IT X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS Proposal Submission Deadline: February 26, 2010 Production and Manufacturing System Management: Coordination Approaches and Multi-Site Planning A book edited by Dr. Paolo Renna University of Basilicata, Italy   To be published by IGI Global: http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=771   Introduction The market globalization and increasing of competition forces the manufacturing companies to adopt distributed production approach. Moreover, Small and Medium Enterprises can compete to a global level if they collaborate in production networks. The distributed approach of production planning requires a coordination mechanism in order to obtain a high level of performance.  The Small and Medium Enterprises can operate in a production planning environment characterized by an independent unit, therefore without sharing of information among the plants involved. Small and Medium Enterprises can gain competitive advantages to participate in this kind of network.   Multi Agent Systems (MAS) are the most appropriate frameworks for developing distributed applications, and this is particularly true in Distributed Production Planning problems.  A MAS needs a proper coordination mechanism in order to guarantee goals achievement.   Most important, from a strategic point of view, is to understand what kind of coordination policy can lead to a better global result for the enterprise within a distributed framework. Therefore, the main motivation of the book is to formalize and understand what kind of real value, added by network cooperation, can be obtained by the enterprises that participate.   Objective of the Book This book will aim to provide relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area. It will be written for research students and their supervisors who are always in search of relevant theories to carry out their research, and for practitioners who want to improve their understanding of distributed production planning and their impact on the enterprise’s performance.   Many authors have addressed the multi-facility production-planning problem as a distributed problem by using agent techniques.  However, none of them address the problem in terms of comparison of different coordination strategies from a performance point of view. Most of the papers concerning performance comparison are addressed by comparing centralized approaches with decentralized ones. In the authors belief, such a problem, even if very relevant as a benchmark for a decentralized system, is not critical from a strategic point of view. Indeed, the choice of a distributed approach is based on the advantages it can lead to in a distributed enterprise (lower investing and operating cost, reactiveness, reliability, and so forth). Most important, from a strategic point of view, is to understand what kind of coordination policy can lead to a better global result for the enterprise within a distributed framework.   Target Audience The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals and researchers working in the field of distributed production planning in various disciplines, for example production planning managers,  knowledge management, supply chain/logistics management, enterprise resource planning vendors, and e-business managers.  Moreover, the book will provide support to organize decentralized producti0n planning in distributed organization and to apply the proposed methodologies in production networks.   Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following: Production planning and scheduling Distributed systems Production networks Multi Agent Systems Decision support system Coordination theory Game theory Multi-objective optimization algorithms Game theory Case studies in distributed production planning Simulation tools   Submission Procedure Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before February 28, 2010, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by March 30, 2010 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by May 31, 2010. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.  Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.   Publisher This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference,” “Business Science Reference,” and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2011.   Important Dates February 26, 2010:         Proposal Submission Deadline March 30, 2010:              Notification of Acceptance May 31, 2010:                    Full Chapter Submission July 30, 2010:                    Review Results Returned August 31, 2010:              Final Chapter Submission September 30, 2010:    Final Deadline   Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to: Dr. Paolo Renna Department of Environmental Engineering and Physics University of Basilicata Potenza, Italy 85100 Tel.: +39 0971 205143 • Fax: +39 0971 205160 • GSM: +39 3204371282 E-mail: paolo.renna@unibas.it