Abstract
In this work, we will present the direct costs and times of the broker for the resources selection process in our agile/virtual enterprise (A/VE) project designated by BM_Virtual Enterprise project (more details can be seen in Putnik, 2000). Related with this work and after revised literature about the selection process for A/VE, we have verified there are some works about selection models and about selection algorithms (Dhaenens- Filipo, 2000; Gupta & Nagi, 1995; Huang & Mak, 2000; Ko, Kim, & Hwang, 2001; Minis, Herrmann, & Lam, 1996; Sluga & Butala, 2001; Subbub, Sanderson, Hocaoglu, & Graves, 1999; Wu, Mao, & Quian, 1999), but on the one hand without evaluating the times and the costs associated to the selection process, much less considering the broker.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Total Time and Cost Model Associated to the Resources Selection Process: The quantification of the total time and the cost, expressed by numerical expressions, for the whole of the activities that should be considered for the chosen selection method, regardless of the tools used and the agent responsible for selection.
Times and Costs Model to the Broker into a Resources Selection Process: The quantification of the times and the costs, expressed by numerical expressions, for each of the activities identified into a resources selection model, attempting the broker’s tools used.
Dependent or Integral Selection Method Without Preselection of Transport Resources (DSMWO): A subset of the dependent or integral selection method where the parameters that reflect the distributiveness of the resources, as the transport time and cost, are estimated.
Selection Method: The approach as the selection problem will be handled, or simplified, according to the selection model, without loss that the resources system selected should present good performances for the A/VE.
Fractioned Selection Method (FSM): The selection method which defines the system of resources to integrate the A/VE project bearing in mind its performance in the execution of association of tasks (including the transport ones) belonging to the tasks plan of the production life cycle of the product.
Times and Costs Model Associated to the Resources Selection Process: The quantification of the times and the costs, expressed by numerical expressions, for each of the activities identified into a resources selection model, regardless of the tools used and the agent responsible for selection.
Selection Model: The specification of all the phases/activities and their interdependencies, formally described in a structured language, that can be applied into a selection process.
Dependent or Integral Selection Method (DSM): Selection method which defines the system of resources to integrate the A/VE project bearing in mind its performance in the total execution of all tasks (including the transport ones) belonging to the tasks plan of the production life cycle of the product.
Dependent or Integral Selection Method with Preselection of Transport Resources (DSMW): A subset of the dependent or integral selection method where the parameters that reflect the distributiveness of the resources, as the transport time and cost, are supplied by the transport resources preselected.
Independent Selection Method (ISM): A particular case of the fractioned selection method with k (the number of processing tasks associated) = 1. In this method, the resource selection for each processing task is made independently of the influence of the resources for the other processing tasks.