The MIDAS System for Automated Supply Chain Management

Inventory carrying costs represent a considerable por- tion of business logistics costs for manufacturing, and in- clude the costs of interest, taxes, obsolescence, depreci- ation, insurance, and warehousing. Using an automated supply chain management system, these business logistics costs, particularly the inventory carrying costs and the lo- gistics administration costs, can be reduced. The MIDAS system is an automated supply chain management system based on the Service Oriented Architecture and Web Ser- vices that reduces these costs, resulting in a more efficient supply chain. MIDAS is intended to create an environment for customers, manufacturers, and suppliers to cooperate, and is designed to achieve greater efficiency on both the customer/manufacturer side and the manufacturer/supplier side. It aims to eliminate or reduce substantially human in- tervention, thus yielding a more efficient supply chain.