Smart Objects and Smart Finance for Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Logistic transport processes are highly distributed and often subject to disturbances, as they are embedded in dynamic environments that prohibit tight control, as many third-party actors and influences exist. Classical approaches for planning and controlling supply chains based on centralized architectures often encounter their limits managing processes at runtime, due to inherent latencies. Decentralized approaches promise a more robust and timely control. The project SOFiA strives to elevate the machines and objects themselves to smart objects, equipped with an understanding of processes and capable of independent decision-making, rather than a centralized server-based system. This paper discusses the project’s decentralized control architecture and the integration of semantic process models with event-discrete simulations as well as smart payment technology to provide an integrated solution for planning, controlling, monitoring and accounting of logistic processes.