Understanding Autonomous Cooperation and Control in Logistics: The Impact of Autonomy on Management, Information, Communication and Material Flow Review

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(More customer reviews)There has been much applied research, beginning with the Cohen, March and Olsen "Garbage Can Model" 35 years ago, on how decisions are really made, and what bad results can ensue. In recent years, especially in the US, much of this work has used agent-based simulation. There has been little connection, however, to theories about why organizations decide as they do. This book does a commendable job of filling that gap, and goes on to present leading-edge work on how to apply self-organization ideas to real problems in logistics and production control. The latter work includes a number of novel uses of information technology, such as "Smart Parts" that are shipped with microcomputers that can interact with logistics systems, making flexible manufacturing and resupply feasible at lower cost on a larger scale is possible with other approaches. While the book is not an easy read and is, frankly, not well suited to the popular audience, it is clear, well-organized, well supported by references, and well worth the trouble for those who want to become much better informed about the theoretical underpinnings of organizational choice. It is a fine contribution to the applied research literature.

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Autonomous co-operation addresses the control problem of logistic processes characterized by dynamical changing parameters and complex system behaviour. During control procedures erratic, non-predictable changes of parameters can occur. Therefore, future planning and control has to face severe and vital uncertainties. Conventional hierarchical systems are amplifying these difficulties because of the additional time delay of information transfer and additional calculation time. On the other hand, autonomous co-operation enables logistic objects (e.g. a single container) in decentralized structures to collect and evaluate information simultaneously to any event of change, so that they can render and execute decisions on their own. Therefore, this book aims to give a profound understanding of autonomous co-operation and to examine its potentials to increase the robustness and positive emergence of logistic processes substantially.