360 Int. J. Agile Systems and Management, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2006 Copyright © 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Agent technology for supporting real-time supply chain management Heli Helaakoski* VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Rantakatu 5, FIN-92100 Raahe, Finland E-mail: heli.helaakoski@vtt.fi *Corresponding author Päivi Iskanius Department of Industrial Engineering and Management University of Oulu P.O. Box 4610, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland E-mail: paivi.iskanius@oulu.fi Irina Peltomaa VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Rantakatu 5, FIN-92100 Raahe, Finland E-mail: irina.peltomaa@vtt.fi Janne Kipinä Department of Electrical and Information Engineering University of Oulu Rantakatu 5, FIN-92100 Raahe, Finland E-mail: janne.kipina@oulu.fi Kaija Ojala Ruukki Production P.O. Box 93, FI-92101 Raahe, Finland E-mail: kaija.ojala@ruukki.com Abstract: Information and communication technology is an important enabler of effective Supply Chain Management (SCM). Emerging new technologies have created new possibilities for developing SCM systems and e-business solutions. Recently, the software agent technology has been studied for supporting effective information management in business networks. This paper introduces a business network, where shared information of the network improves lead-time, cost efficiency and faculty for customer service. The research is conducted as a case study in a steel product industry network in Finland and is based on qualitative material and analysed as an entity. The supporting technical research is based on an agent-based prototype for a mutual software system for an industry network.