Vikram Ketkar graduated from department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in Spring 2003.  He also has a B. E (ME) in 1999 from the Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune University, India.

Thesis title: Web based product tracking for supply chains using XML ontology and Multi agent systems .

(2003)

Abstract

Most of the existing businesses are in the form of supply chains or extended enterprises. Business and manufacturing processes are widely distributed among these enterprises. Optimization of these processes depends on the exchange of real time information among individual enterprises. As most of the modem processes are run by a plethora of information systems, the success of any collaborative business depends on how well the information systems can exchange real time data with each other, typically over the Internet. Product tracking is gathering real time status information about an object during the logistics processes. Efficient product tracking can facilitate a better flow of product status information and thus enable coordination in the supply chain. In most of the existing product tracking systems, data is not exchanged in real time, there can be ambiguity in data definitions, and lack of customization is observed in data presentation. This thesis seeks to find a solution to these obstacles and proposes a product tracking system that will operate continuously, exchange information u~ambiguously, and present it in customized formats. In the proposed system, to track products 24/7, a multi agent architecture consisting of intelligent agents with specific agendas is proposed. Comprehensive and precisely defined product ontology, relevant for exchanging product status information, is constructed to enable accurate information exchange and is encoded as an XML schema. A Web based, product data exchange application using XML ontology, XSL T, and Native XML database is also created to showcase the use of XML technologies in conjunction with agents and ontologies for product tracking.