101 ISSN 2086-5953
ANT COLONY ALGORITHM BASED GENERIC MODEL FOR SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
Taufik Djatna
1
, Ditdit N. Utama
2 1
Postgraduate Program of Agro-Industrial Technology, Graduate School of Bogor Agricultural University, Darmaga P.O. Box 220 Bogor 16002, Indonesia
2
Information System Department, Science and Technology Faculty of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah
– Jakarta, Ir. H. Juanda Street No. 95 Ciputat, Jakarta, Indonesia E-Mail: taufikdjatnaipb.ac.id
1
, ditditnhotmail.com
2
ABSTRACT
Ant colony algorithm is one of many mature research  methodologies  in  searching,  routing  and
optimizing  field.  This  methodology  uses biological and  behavior  phenomenon  as  an  algorithm
philosophy  to  solve  fastest  path  problem  and  other optimization  problems.  Many  researchers  have
researched  by  using  ant  colony  algorithm  as  their methodology, not only for technical cases, but also
for  management  aspect  cases.  The  ant  colony algorithm  methodology  can  be  used  in  problem
solving  for  the  routing  or  optimizing  supply  chain path  in  supply  chain  management  case.  As  we
know,  that  in  the  supply  chain  case,  the  best  path searching  problem  is  a  usual  problem  happen.  In
this  paper,  the  authors      propose  a  generic  model based  on  ant  colony  algorithm  that  was
implemented
in supply
chain performance
measurement cases. Keywords:  ant  colony  algorithm,  generic  model,
supply chain, performance measurement
1
INTRODUCTION 1.1
Background
More  than  one  company  involvement  in industrial  sector  is  the  reason  supply  chain
management  concept  is  needed  in  industrial implementation.  Relationship  among  companies  in
one industrial area, such as: raw material producers, collectors,  factories,  warehouses,  distributors,
retailers,  and the customers, is a supply chain flow that could not be separated one to each others. The
differentiation  of  data  and  information  platform, leadership  style,  and  the  working  culture  in  every
level of supply chain, is the problem that has to be solved.
Supply  chain  is  a  system  where  the organizations  or  companies  can  supply  their
products and services to their customers. This chain is as network of  many related companies that have
the same goals and objectives. The supply term, in supply chain term, includes product transformation,
in  this  case,  transforming  raw  material  to  end product [1].
On  the  other  hand,  the  best  path  of  supply chain  searching  problem,  to  supply  the  product
from  supply  to  demand  side  [2],  always  be researched  in  day  per  day  by  many  researchers.  In
other  research,  [3]  has  researched  in  supply  chain management  as  Intelligent  Supply  Chain.  ISN  is  a
system  that  integrates  all  of  the  involved  actors  in supply  chain.  [4]  has  researched  in  responsive  and
efficient supply chain.
One of many methodologies that can be used for solving the current  supply chain problem is ant
colony  algorithm  methodology,  or  usually  called Ant  Colony  Optimization  ACO.  ACO  is  a
paradigm  for  designing  meta-heuristic  algorithms for  combinatorial  optimization  problems.  The
essential  trait  of  ACO  algorithms  is  the combination  of  a  priori  information  about  the
structure  of  a  promising  solution  with  a  posteriori information  about  the  structure  of  previously
obtained  good  solutions  [5].  Other  definition  said that ACO is a heuristic optimization method for the
fastest  path  problem  solving  or  other  problem optimization  by  using  biological  ant  behavior
phenomenon [6].
The meaning of generic model in this case is the  model  that  describes  the  developed  model
generally.  On  the  other  hand,  the  generic  model  is the opened model. It can be extended in accordance
with  what  we  want,  which  means  our  model  will support  solution  in  different  process  in  the  supply
chain.  According  to  that  background,  this  paper would  explained  research  background,  related
works,  theoretical  review  in  the  first  part;  generic model
development in
the second
part; measurement  and  result  in  the  third  part;  and
discussion and conclusion in the fourth part.
1.2 Related Works
There  are  many  researches  that  used  ant
ISSN 2086-5953 colony  optimization  as  a  main  technique.  Some  of
them  are  [7]  researched  in  production  optimization and  maintenance  process  scheduling  area;  [8]
researched  by  using  ACO  in  routing  design  area; [9]  have  researched  in  project  critical  path
searching  area  by  using  ACO  as  a  main  method [10] also studied in product packing and delivering
area for supply chain; and [11] have studied aspect of  supply  chain  in  performance  management,  in
combination  of  SCOR,  value  added,  cost  and financial supply chain performance measurement.
On the other hand, [12] combined ACO and Genetic  Algorithm  for  developing  the  Chinese
question and answering system. [13] used ACO for data  processing  dynamic  city  choice  case  and  [14]
used  ACO  for  partner  selection  case.  Moreover, [15]  and  [16]  used  ACO  that  was  implemented  in
mobile system case.
1.3 Theoretical Review
Supply Chain Management
Supply  chain  concept  is  still  a  growing concept in logistic problem view. In a conventional
concept, logistic problem  has been seen as internal company  problem  only.  The  companies  have  to
solve  their  problems  internally  and  solely,  without collaborate  to  their  company  partners.  In  this  new
one, logistic problem is seen as a boarder problem. The logistic problem can be happen in every step of
supply chain, from the first level up to the last level of  supply  chain.  That  is  reason  why  supply  chain
management can be defined  as a set of approaches utilized
to efficiently
integrate suppliers,
manufactures,  warehouse,  and  stores,  so  that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right
quantities, to the right locations, at the right time, in order  to  minimize  system  wide  costs  while
satisfying  service level requirement [2]. The figure 1 described supply chain management concept [2].
Figure 1. Concept of Supply Chain Management
On  the  other  hand,  supply  chain  can  be defined as a system that used by company to supply
its product and service to its customers. This chain is  also  as  network  of  many  related  organizations
that have the same goals and objectives [1].
Ant Colony Optimization
[17]  Said  that  ACO  is  an  optimization technique inspired by observations on the behavior
of biological ant colonies; it has been introduced by [13],  and  [19];  and  developed  later  into  a  meta-
heuristic  for  combinatorial  optimization  problems [20],  [21],  [22].  Recently,  ACO  algorithms  have
also  turned  out  as  competitive  in  a  discrete stochastic  optimization  context  [23],  [24],  [25],
[26], [27].
An  ACO  is  essentially  a  system  based  on agent, which simulates the natural behavior of ants
including mechanisms
of co-operation
and adaptation. To use this kind of system, a new meta-
heuristic is proposed in order to solve combinatorial optimization problems. This new meta-heuristic has
been  shown  to  be  both  robust  and  versatile  in  the sense  that  it  has  been  successfully  applied  to
arrange  of  different  combinatorial  optimization problems.  ACO  algorithms  are  based  on  following
ideas [28]: 1.
Each path, is followed by an  ant, is associated with a candidate solution for a given problem.
2. When  an  ant  follows  a  path,  the  amount  of
pheromone deposited on that path. This path is proportional to the quality of the corresponding
candidate solution for the target problem. 3.
When  an  ant  has  to  choose  between  two  and more  paths,  the  path  with  a  larger  amount  of
pheromone  has  a  greater  probability  of  being chosen by the ant.
Conceptually,  in  ant  colony  algorithm,  two ways of  food searching  way,  that are used by ants,
are  used  in  this  method.  Other  principles  of  ACO are [29]:
1. Random  direction  for  searching  and  collecting
some food, 2.
When  one  ant  finds  food  resource,  that  ant traces back again the path that was used by it,
3. The  ants  put  chemical  Pheromones  on  their
path that can be evaporated, 4.
In  loop,  the  chemical  pheromones  will decreases,  but  on  the  other  hand,  it  will  be
added, 5.
Some  ants  will  follow  the  shortest  path,  the strongest chemical pheromone path.
2 GENERIC MODEL
Based  on  basic  behavior  of  ACO  model [22], we generate a generic mathematical model for
supply chain performance  measurement  which  was described in the next formula.
ISSN 2086-5953 Where:
= Performance of Current Path =
Current Distance,
the basis
of measurement
= Performance of Previous Node Variable = Total of Previous Node Variable
= Current Path Pheromone The  supply  chain  performance  depends  on
the  path  length  in  this  case,  distance  is  the  basis variable  for  measurement,  supply  chain  element
performance  and  pheromone  quality.  The  supply chain element performance could be showed in the
next mathematic formula.
Where: = Performance of previous element
=  Performance  of  prev ious  element‘s
SCOR variable =  Performance  of  Previous
element‘s Financial variable
=  Performance  of  Previous element‘s
Added Value Variable =
Performance  of  previous  element‘s Transportation Cost Variable
The  supply  chain  element  performance depends  on  performance  of  SCOR,  financial,
added-value  and  transportation  cost  variables.  This is  an  opened  model,  so  if  it  is  needed,  we  can  add
some new variables, according to the case that was being faced.
The  generic  model  can  be  described  in usecase  diagram.  This  model  is  divided  in  to  two
sub-systems;  Ant  colony  sub-system  and  Supply Chain  Performance  Sub-System.  In  the  ant  colony
sub-system, user can  use the  main  model to search the  best  path  of  supply  chain.  On  the  other  hand,
supply chain and supply chain element performance are  measured  in  supply  chain  performance  sub-
system.  The  usecase  diagram  could  be  showed  in Figure 2.
Information  flow  and  type  of  the  model could  be  described  by  using  information  liquid
model  Figure  3.  This  model  could  be  showed some information resources that were needed in this
model,  such  as:  supply  chain  element;  value  of SCOR  Based  on  [30],  financial,  added  value  and
transportation cost variable; and distance and route.
The generic model is shown in class diagram Figure  4.  To  describe  the  model,  there  are  five
classes in this class diagram: class AntGraph, class Ant,  class  AntColony,  class  Ant4SC  and  class
AntColony4SC.  Class  AntGraph  connects  to ClassSupplyChainPerformance  that  consists  of:
class SCORPerformance,
class financialPerformance,
costPerformance, and
addedValuePerformance.  Each  class  represents  the name of  main component in  ACO. This  model can
be called by distance based model [11].
Ant Colony Sub-System
Supply Chain Performance Sub-System User
The Best SC Searching
Criteria Identification
SCOR Performance
Added Value Variable
Performance Financial
Variable Performance
SC Element Performance
SC Performance
Transportation Cost Variable
Performance
Figure 2. Usecase Diagram of Generic Model
Figure 3. Information Liquid Model
ISSN 2086-5953
0..1 0..
0..1 0..
antGraph 0..1
0..
0..1 0..
0..1 0..
0..1 0..
0..1 0..
0..1 0..
0..1 0..
0..1 0..
ant -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
m_nAntID m_path
m_nCurNode m_nStartNode
m_dPathValue m_pathVect
s_nAntIDCounter s_dBestPathValue
s_bestPathVect s_bestPath
s_nLastBestPathIteration : int
: int[][] : int
: int : double
: int : int
: double : int
: int[][] : int
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
setAntColony reset
ant int nStartNode, Observer observer init
start run
better double dPathValue, double dBestPathValue
stateTransitionRule int r localUpdatingRule int r, int s
end getBestPath
: void : void
: void : void
: void : boolean
: int : void
: boolean : int[]
antColony -
- -
- -
m_ants m_nAnts
m_nAntCounter m_nIterCounter
Attribute_5 : int
: int : int
: int : int
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ antColony int nAnts, int nIterations
createAnts int ants getBestPathVector
start iteration
getGraph getAnts
getIterations getIterationCounter
getID update Obeservable ant, Object obj
getBestPathValue getBestPath
getLastBestPathIteration done
globalUpdatingRule : Ant[]
: vector : int
: void : int
: int : int
: int : void
: double : int[]
: int : boolean
: void AntGraph
- -
- -
m_delta m_tau
m_nNodes m_nTau
: double[][] : double[][]
: int : double
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
antGraph int nNodes, double[] delta[], double[] tau[]
delta int r, int s tau int r, int s
etha int r, int s nodes
tauD updateTau int r, int s, double value
averageDelta averageTau
average double[] matrix[] : double
: double : double
: int : double
: void : double
: double : double
supplyChainPerformance -
- IDPerformance
SCPerformance : String
: double +
+ dataLoad
supplyChainPerformanceMeasurement : double
: double
Distance -
- IDDistance
distance : String
: double +
+ distanceMeasurement
distanceLoad : double
: double SCORPerformance
- -
IDSCOR SCORValue
: String : double
+ +
SCORValueMeasurement dataView
: double : void
financialPerformance -
- IDFinancial
financialPerformanceValue : String
: double +
+ financialPerformanceMeasurement
dataView : double
: void costPerformance
- -
IDCost CostPerformanceValue
: String : double
+ +
costPerformanceMeasurement dataView
: double : void
addedValuePerformance -
- IDAddedValue
addedValuePerformance : string
: double +
+ addedValuePerformanceMeasurement
dataVeiw : void
: void
DistPar -
- Distance
ParentVert : double
: int + DistPar  : void
Vertex -
- Label
isInTree : char
: boolean + Vertex  : void
Figure 4. Class Diagram of Model
The detailed ant colony based generic model could  be  described  in  Figure  5.  It  is  started  at
variable  initiations,  ants  generating,  up  to  supply chain performance value getting.
Further  explanation  of  this  model  could  be described  in  sequence  diagram  in  Figure  6.  This
diagram  explained  the  relationship  among  objects or  classes  in  the  model.  In  the  other  words,  this
diagram  explained  the  relationship  among  entities in the model.
SequenceDiagram_1
PoCost PoAddedValue
PoFinancial PoSCOR
SumOfAnt pheromones, Evaporation
OptimumPath call
call call
call graph
call call
graph graph
generate Actor_1
Graph Ant
AntColony DistPar
Vertex SupplyChainPerformance
SCORPerformance FinancialPerformance
CostPerformance AddedValuePerformance
PoCost PoAddedValue
PoFinancial PoSCOR
SumOfAnt pheromones, Evaporation
OptimumPath call
call call
call graph
call call
graph graph
generate
Figure 6. Sequence Diagram of Model Figure 5. Activity Diagram of Model
ISSN 2086-5953
3 MEASUREMENT AND RESULT
In  order  to  justify  our  model,  we  do  some measurement  based  on  Figure  4.  Data  and
information  resource  for  this  step  is  derived  from field observation and computation.
We  verify  the  ACO  generic  model  on  an example  for  this  measurement  which  is  used  for
supply  chain  performance  measurement  case  was described  in  a  tree  view  in  Figure  7.  We  deploy  a
spanning tree algorithm to construct this tree.
The  authors  take  this  example  from  palm based  bio-energy  supply  chain  case.  The  supply
chain network described that A is the end customer; B  and  C  are  bio-energy  factories;  D  is  a  Crude
Palm  Oil  CPO  factory;  and  E,  F  and  G  are  palm farmers.
The distance value of the tree was converted in to graph matrix in Table 1. This matrix described
distance  between  nodes  or  elements  in  one  supply chain network.
A B
C D
F E
G 55
75 40
55 50
45 35
Figure 7. Supply Chain Tree Table 1. Graph Matrix
A B
C D
E F
G A
0.00 55.0
75.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
0.00
B 0.00
0.00 0.00
40.0 0.00
0.00 0.00
C 0.00
0.00 0.00
55.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
D
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
50.0 45.00
35.0
E 0.00
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
F 0.00
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
G 0.00
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
The  performance  value  of  each  element: SCOR,  financial,  cost  and  added  value,  could  be
shown by data in Table 2.
Table 2. Performance Value
A B
C D
E F
G SCOR
0.7 0.7
0.5 0,5
0.5 0.5
0.7 Financial
0.5 0.7
0.7 0.7
1.0 0.5
0.7 Cost
0.7 0.7
0.5 0.7
1.0 0.5
0.7 Added Value
0.7 0.7
0.5 1.0
0.5 0.5
0.5
The  performance  evaluation  could  be explained  by  using  result  of  the  model  execution.
Some data resulted from this execution are in Table 3.
Table  3. Execution Result ∑Ph.
∑Ev. Path
Distance Performance Value
0.11 0.01
A,C,D,F 175
50.77 0.13
0.03 A,C,D,E
180 29.92
0.01 0.15
A,B,D,E 145
81.45 0.05
0.05 A,B,D,E
145 61.13
0.05 0.07
A,B,D,E 145
73.76
∑Ph. = Average of Pheromones, ∑Ev. = Average of Evaporation,
Sum of Ant = 2000 The  execution  result  showed  that  optimum
path is A, B, D, E and the best performance value is 61.13,  the  most  little  one.  On  the  other  hand,  the
best  performance  value  is  29.92  with  path:  A,  C, D, E.This performance value was described in km
kilometers unit size.
4 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
Ant Colony
Algorithm could
be implemented in model of supply chain performance
measurement.  It  was  called  ant  colony  algorithm based  generic  model  for  supply  chain  performance
measurement.
Usecase  diagram    showed  the  relationship between user and the model, and between both sub-
systems;  ant  colony  and  supply  chain  performance sub-system.
This  generic  model  is  an  opened  model, because there are many variables that can be added
in  this  model,  it  depends  on  the  case  was  being faced.  In  this  paper  case,  author  used  4  variables:
SCOR,  financial,  added  value  and  transportation cost variable.
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109 ISSN 2086-5953
ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK TO MEASURE PHOSPHORUS AMOUNT IN AGRICULTURAL SOILS
Feriyonika
1
, Nasih Widya Yuwono
2 1
Graduate School of Automation and Control, National Taiwan University of Science  Technology
2
Soil Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Gadjah Mada University Email: feriyonikayahoo.com
1
, nasihugm.ac.id
2
ABSTRACT
This research investigates alternative way to measure one of important elements, phosphorus, in
agricultural  soils.  In  many  agricultural  lands,  the farmers‘ behavior is just using their experience and
invalid information when take fertilizer in their soil. This  condition  not  only  scarifies  the  soil  fertility
and  harm  microorganism  but  also  waste  the
farmer‘s  money.  This  study  develops  equipment using  camera,  computer  and  Artificial  Neural
Network ANN as algorithm. The result show that proposed  method  can  do  measure  the  phosphorus
amount well. Keywords:  ANN,  agriculture,  soils,  camera,
phosphorus.
1 INTRODUCTION
The  Soil  holds  important  role  for  the  plant growth.  It  has  main  function  as  place  to  growth,
providing  water  and  providing  air  to  root  breath. There are three main factors deciding the quality of
fertility  in  agricultural  soil.  They  are  Biology, physic  and  chemistry  factors.  In  real  world,  they
influence  one  to  another  and  must  be  equilibrium [1]. If the plants can get the nutrition directly from
the soil, they will grow well and result good crop.
Today,  the  nutrition  for  the  plants  provided by  the  agricultural  soil  is  not  enough.  Since  the
industrial  Green  Revolution  of  the  20th  century, chemically  synthesized  inorganic  fertilizers  were
widely used in agricultural plant. It replaces organic fertilizer due to fulfill plant nutrition fast. Lately, it
has  been  realized  that  the  utilization  of  the chemically  synthesized  inorganic  fertilizers  causes
decreasing of microorganisms in the soil and affect the decreasing of the soil fertility.
In Indonesia, a country with wide agriculture land,  the  utilization  of  the  chemically  synthesized
inorganic  fertilizers  has  started  since  early  70-es. About twenty years later, early 90s, the crop has not
satisfied anymore.
The  condition  of  soil  is  very  important information for the farmer before they cultivate the
plant. The information will be useful to decide what the  elements  being  needed  are  and  how  many  is.
This  procedure  is  not  work  well  due  to  difficulties to  conduct  it.  The  farmers,  who  leave  far  from  the
center  of  research  or  university,  do  the  fertilizing based  on  experience  and  lack  of  information.  This
condition  causes  disadvantage  for  the  farmers; wasting fertilizer and money.
In  this  research,  we  use  artificial  neural network  ANN  to  predict  one  of  important
elements,  phosphorus  P,  deciding  the  quality  of soil‘s  fertility.  There  have  been  researches  in
agricultural field
involving soft
computing intelligence  techniques.  He  et  al.  [2]  use  ANN  to
estimate  monthly  total  nitrogen  concentration  in streams.  They  investigate  the  relationship  among
the  land  use,  fertilizer,  and  hydrometerological conditions  in  59  river  basins  over  Japan  and  then
applied to estimate the monthly river total nitrogen concentration TNC. Anctill et al. [3] use ANN to
simulate  daily  nitrate-nitrogen  and  suspended sediment fluxes from a small agricultural catchment
Melarches,  70  km  east  of  Paris,  France.  They investigate  the  soil  erosion  and  biochemical
applications  associated  to  human  activities  such  as intensive  agriculture.  Lek  et  al.  [4]  used  ANN  to
predict  phosphorus  concentration  and  phosphorus load
from watershed
characteristics. They
investigate  relationship  between  land  use  and  the concentration and export of total phosphorus and of
orthophosphate by watersheds. Salehi et al. [5] used ANN to predict of annual nitrate-N N0
3
-N losses into  drain  flow  at  Eugene  F.  Whelan  Experimental
Farm  Agriculture  Canada,  Woodslee,  Ontario, Canada. They used daily measurements of nitrate-
N  taken  from  eight  different  soil  conservation treatments during 1992-1994.
In  this  research,  we  use  ANN  to  predict phosphorus amount in agricultural soils. The result
of this research is aim to make portable instrument included ANN inside which can be used in many
place  easily.  The  instrument  is  helpful  tool  to  give farmer  information  about  soil  condition.  The
information  is  very  important  because  farmer  can give appropriate treatment to their agricultural land.
ISSN 2086-5953
2 MODEL, ANALYSIS, DESIGN,
AND IMPLEMENTATION
2.1 Proposed method