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Article
A Multiple-Agent based System for Forecasting the Ice Cream Demand using Climatic Information
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing
  • Vincent Wen-Bin Yu, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Hokey Min
  • Bih-Ru Lea, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

A multiple agent-based system is intended to capture complex behavioral patterns by utilizing a collection of autonomous computer systems (called agents) that can interact with decision makers and then learn, perform, and delegate tasks on their behalf. With its ability to handle a large amount of information from heterogeneous sources in dynamically changing environments, a multiple agent-based system can significantly improve the company's business intelligence and operational efficiency. Though rarely used in demand planning, this paper proposes a multiple agent-based system for demand forecasting of ice cream which poses unique challenges due to volatility and seasonality of ice cream consumption. To validate the usefulness of the proposed system for demand planning, the forecasting outcomes of the proposed system was compared to those of traditional forecasting techniques. Our experiments showed that the proposed multiple agent-based system outperformed its traditional forecasting counterparts in terms of its accuracy and consistency.

Meeting Name
1st International Symposium on Management Intelligent Systems, IS-MiS 2012 (2012: Jul. 11-13, Salamanca, Spain)
Department(s)
Business and Information Technology
Keywords and Phrases
  • Forecasting,
  • Intelligent systems,
  • Agent-based systems,
  • Amount of information,
  • Autonomous computers,
  • Behavioral patterns,
  • Changing environment,
  • Climatic informations,
  • Decision makers,
  • Demand forecasting,
  • Demand planning,
  • Forecasting techniques,
  • Heterogeneous sources,
  • Ice creams,
  • Operational efficiencies,
  • Seasonality,
  • Autonomous agents
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
978-3-642-30863-5
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2012 Springer Verlag, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
1-1-2012
Publication Date
01 Jan 2012
Disciplines
Citation Information
Vincent Wen-Bin Yu, Hokey Min and Bih-Ru Lea. "A Multiple-Agent based System for Forecasting the Ice Cream Demand using Climatic Information" Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing Vol. 171 (2012) p. 227 - 238 ISSN: 2194-5357
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/bih-ru-lea/17/