Conference: 23rd ICE/IEEE ITMC Conference (ICE2017). Madeira, Portugal – June 27-30, 2017 Title of the paper: A Multi-agent Approach for Processing Industrial Enterprise Data Authors: Wael M. Mohammed, Borja Ramis Ferrer, Raquel Sanchis, Beatriz Andres, Carlos Agostinho, Jose L. Martinez Lastra if you would like to recieve a reprint of the original paper, please contact us.

1. A Multi-agent Approach for Processing
Industrial Enterprise Data
Date: 29th of June, 2017
Contact Information
Tampere University of Technology
FAST Laboratory
P.O. Box 600,
FIN-33101 Tampere
Finland
Email: fast@tut.fi
www.tut.fi/fast
Conference: 23rd ICE/IEEE ITMC Conference
(ICE2017).
Madeira, Portugal – June 27-30, 2017
Title of the paper: A Multi-agent Approach for
Processing Industrial Enterprise Data
Authors: Wael M. Mohammed, Borja Ramis Ferrer,
Raquel Sanchis, Beatriz Andres, Carlos Agostinho,
Jose L. Martinez Lastra
if you would like to recieve a reprint of the
original paper, please contact us.

2. A Multi-agent Approach for Processing
Industrial Enterprise Data
23rd ICE/IEEE ITMC Conference (ICE2017).
Madeira, Portugal – June 27-30, 2017
Wael M. Mohammed1, Borja Ramis Ferrer1, Raquel Sanchis2, Beatriz Andres2,
Carlos Agostinho3, Jose L. Martinez Lastra1
{wael.mohammed, borja.ramisferrer}@tut.fi, {rsanchis, bandres}@cigip.upv.es,
ca@uninova.pt, jose.lastra@tut.fi
1Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
2 Research Centre on Production Management and Engineering (CIGIP). Universitat Politècnica de
València (UPV) Calle Alarcón, 03801 Alcoy, Spain
3 Centre of Technology and Systems, CTS, UNINOVA, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal

3. Outline
• Introduction
• Motivation
• Background
• The approach
• Case Study
• Conclusion and the future work
A Multi-agent Approach for Processing Industrial Enterprise
Data
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4. Introduction
Cloud Collaborative Manufacturing Networks (C2NET)
project is an EU Horizon 2020 R&D project within the
framework of the Factories of the Future (FoF) public-
private partnership. The goal of the project is the
development of Cloud-enabled tools for supporting SMEs
supply network optimization.
A data collection is required. Thus C2NET contains a Data
Collection Framework that capable of collecting data from
factory shopfloor using IoT device and ERP data using
Legacy Systems Hubs.
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Data
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5. Motivation
• As C2NET aims at supporting the SMEs, the
ERP data is expected to contains MS Excel files.
• The excel files do not follow schemas or
standards
• A general approach is needed
• Limited resources
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6. Background
Multi Agent Systems
Agent is an autonomous computer system that is capable of
exchanging information with other peers throughout an agreed
communication language. Then, a Multi-Agent System (MAS)
consists on the deployment several agents that work
collectively in order to perform tasks for specific objectives.
The employment of autonomous and intelligent MAS occurs in
multiple domains and application types e.g., game theory,
logistics, internet, health and industrial systems.
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Data
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7. Background
Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 started as a national initiative in Germany, and
quickly evolved to an extended concept used to identify the
future of industrial production in which concepts as the Smart
Factory fundamental.
Nowadays, it is visible as key area for research and
development worldwide. e.g. European Commission
programmes, such as the “Factories of the Future” (FoF),
“Made in China 2025” or U.S. “Smart Manufacturing Leadership
Coalition” (SMLC), all aiming the at the future and intelligent
factory, flexible to the changing market demands, adaptable to
the workers, and more agile concerning value chain integration.
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Data
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8. Background
Manufacturing Systems and Supply Chain
A manufacturing system is any system that organizes and
executes processes for creating products as, for example,
automotive assembly lines.
The automation pyramid sketched in the well-known ISA-95
standard is the one that presents the structure of manufacturing
enterprises. This representation depicts three major levels:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing
Execution System (MES) and shop floor.
On the other hand, the supply chain is a system composed by
resources that are involved in the manufacturing and delivery of
products to customers.
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Data
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9. Approach
Company
• Provides the excel files via FTP
server
• The access C2NET via Web browser
C2NET
• Provide the user with interface via the
UCP
• Connects tot eh LSH via PubSub
broker
• Includes the RM and the DKMS
Legacy System Hub
• Connects via PubSub client
• Connects to the company via FTP
client
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Data
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10. Approach
The PlcantCockpit project provided
an open source framework for
service-based applications. The
concept includes the approach of
Function Blocks, which is described
in the IEC-61499 standard.
The PlantCockpit project targeted
the control and monitoring factory
facilities. However, for the C2NET
project, the PlantCockpit has be
evolved as a LSH.
XLSX adapter in the LSH
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Data
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11. Approach
Engine controls the primary range,
maps the extract data from data
source using the mapped fields and
access the data sources (excel
files)
Fields represents the required data
that the user choose from the excel
table. It is mapped with the
configured agents
Sources Manager and Sources
manipulates the excel files that are
needed
XLSX adapter in the LSH
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12. Approach
Agents
• Each agent represents a range in
the xls table
• Agents are connected as chain and
represent a nested loop
• Primary Agent by starting cell and
direction which
• Normal agent scans the range
where the starting cell and the end
cell are defined
• This allows the primary range to
scan all rows or columns (depends
on the table) till the last cell in the
range
Structure of the primary
agent and the normal agents
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Data
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13. Approach
How data is collected from
the excel files?
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Data
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14. Approach
How the agents
interacts between
each other?
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Data
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15. Case Study
Pilot 1 in the C2NET project involves a first and a second-tier supplier of an
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the automotive industry sector. One
of the validation scenario is related to the optimisation of a Collaborative
Materials Requirement Plan among the first and the second-tier supplier. The
first-tier supplier receives the demand from the OEM and launches the
optimization algorithm in order to calculate the needed materials.
The data that this optimization problem needs is provided as an excel file. The
period is weekly based.
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Data
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16. Case Study
Configuration interface in the RM
LSH configuration
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Data
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17. Conclusion
• A generic approach is provided where the
complexity of the structure of the excel tables
can be handled.
• Visualization of the LSH provided the user with
friendly way of configuring the Multi-agent
system
• The approach showed significant enhancement
in terms of performance.
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Data
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18. Future Work
• The approach could be extended to allow multi
primary agent implementation. This will allows
processing multi dimensional tables.
• A machine learning concept could be included for
enhancing the user experience.
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19. Acknowledgement
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European
Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement
n° 636909, correspondent to the project shortly entitled C2NET, Cloud
Collaborative Manufacturing Networks .
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Data
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20. THANK YOU!
Any questions?
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