A framework for closed-loop supply chains of reusable articles

Reuse practices contribute to the environmental and economical sustainability of production and distribution systems. Surprisingly, reuse closed-loop supply chains (CLSC) have not been widely researched for the moment. In this paper, we explore the scientific literature on reuse and we propose a framework for reusable articles. This conceptual structure includes a typology integrating under the reusable articles term different categories of articles (transportation items, packaging materials, tools) and addresses the management issues that arise in reuse CLSC. We ground our results in a set of case studies developed in real industrial settings, which have also been contrasted with cases available in existing literature.reverse logistics;case studies;closed-loop supply chains;returns managment

Organic agriculture and climate change mitigation - A report of the Round Table on Organic Agriculture and Climate Change

Summary and next steps Participants of the workshop were able to draw from their discussions and from the input of guest speakers and synthesize a set of conclusions that can be used to guide future activities concerning LCAs and other activities that seek to identify and quantify the potential contributions of organic agriculture to climate change mitigation. - LCA is the best tool for measuring GHG emissions related to agricultural products. - There is a risk of oversimplification when focusing on climate change as a single environmental impact category. - Farm production and transport (at least for plant products) are important hotspots for agricultural products. - Studies have shown no remarkable difference in GHG emissions between organic and conventional but, traditionally, soil carbon changes have not been included – which can have a major impact, especially for plant products. - The challenges of LCA of organic products – accounting for carbon sequestration and interactions in farming systems, including the environmental costs of manure – need to be addressed. - Attempts should be made to secure a consistent LCA methodology for agricultural products, including organic products

An Advanced Heuristic for Multiple-Option Spare Parts Procurement after End-of-Production

After-sales service is a major profit generator for more and more OEMs in industries with durable products. Successful engagement in after-sales service improves customer loyalty and allows for competitive differentiation through superior service like an extended service period after end of production during which customers are guaranteed to be provided with service parts. In order to fulfill the service guarantee in these cases, an effective and efficient spare parts management has to be implemented, which is challenging due to the high uncertainty concerning spare parts demand over such a long time horizon. The traditional way of spare parts acquisition for the service phase is to set up a huge final lot at the end of regular production of the parent product which is sufficient to fulfill demand up to the end of the service time. This strategy results in extremely high inventory levels over a long period and generates major holding costs and a high level of obsolescence risk. With increasing service time more flexible options for spare parts procurement after end of production gain more and more importance. In our paper we focus on the two most relevant ones, namely extra production and remanufacturing. Managing all three options leads to a complicated stochastic dynamic decision problem. For that problem type, however, a quite simple combined decision rule with order-up-to levels for extra production and remanufacturing turns out to be very effective. We propose a heuristic procedure for parameter determination which accounts for the main stochastic and dynamic interactions between the different order-up-to levels, but still consists of quite simple calculations so that it can be applied to problem instances of arbitrary size. In a numerical study we show that this heuristic performs extremely well under a wide range of conditions so that it can be strongly recommended as a decision support tool for the multi-option spare parts procurement problem.Spare Parts, Inventory Management, Reverse Logistics, Final Order

Stochastic make-to-stock inventory deployment problem: an endosymbiotic psychoclonal algorithm based approach

Integrated steel manufacturers (ISMs) have no specific product, they just produce finished product from the ore. This enhances the uncertainty prevailing in the ISM regarding the nature of the finished product and significant demand by customers. At present low cost mini-mills are giving firm competition to ISMs in terms of cost, and this has compelled the ISM industry to target customers who want exotic products and faster reliable deliveries. To meet this objective, ISMs are exploring the option of satisfying part of their demand by converting strategically placed products, this helps in increasing the variability of product produced by the ISM in a short lead time. In this paper the authors have proposed a new hybrid evolutionary algorithm named endosymbiotic-psychoclonal (ESPC) to decide what and how much to stock as a semi-product in inventory. In the proposed theory, the ability of previously proposed psychoclonal algorithms to exploit the search space has been increased by making antibodies and antigen more co-operative interacting species. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm has been tested on randomly generated datasets and the results compared with other evolutionary algorithms such as genetic algorithms (GA) and simulated annealing (SA). The comparison of ESPC with GA and SA proves the superiority of the proposed algorithm both in terms of quality of the solution obtained and convergence time required to reach the optimal/near optimal value of the solution

Sources of Lifetime Inequality

Is lifetime inequality mainly due to differences across people established early in life or to differences in luck experienced over the working lifetime? We answer this question within a model that features idiosyncratic shocks to human capital, estimated directly from data, as well as heterogeneity in ability to learn, initial human capital, and initial wealth -- features which are chosen to match observed properties of earnings dynamics by cohorts. We find that as of age 20, differences in initial conditions account for more of the variation in lifetime utility, lifetime earnings and lifetime wealth than do differences in shocks received over the lifetime. Among initial conditions, variation in initial human capital is substantially more important than variation in learning ability or initial wealth for determining how an agent fares in life. An increase in an agent's human capital affects expected lifetime utility by raising an agent's expected earnings profile, whereas an increase in learning ability affects expected utility by producing a steeper expected earnings profile.

Inventory drivers in a pharmaceutical supply chain

In recent years, inventory reduction has been a key objective of pharmaceutical companies, especially within cost optimization initiatives. Pharmaceutical supply chains are characterized by volatile and unpredictable demands –especially in emergent markets-, high service levels, and complex, perishable finished-good portfolios, which makes keeping reasonable amounts of stock a true challenge. However, a one-way strategy towards zero-inventory is in reality inapplicable, due to the strategic nature and importance of the products being commercialised. Therefore, pharmaceutical supply chains are in need of new inventory strategies in order to remain competitive. Finished-goods inventory management in the pharmaceutical industry is closely related to the manufacturing systems and supply chain configurations that companies adopt. The factors considered in inventory management policies, however, do not always cover the full supply chain spectrum in which companies operate. This paper works under the pre-assumption that, in fact, there is a complex relationship between the inventory configurations that companies adopt and the factors behind them. The intention of this paper is to understand the factors driving high finished-goods inventory levels in pharmaceutical supply chains and assist supply chain managers in determining which of them can be influenced in order to reduce inventories to an optimal degree. Reasons for reducing inventory levels are found in high inventory holding and scrap related costs; in addition to lost sales for not being able to serve the customers with the adequate shelf life requirements. The thesis conducts a single case study research in a multi-national pharmaceutical company, which is used to examine typical inventory configurations and the factors affecting these configurations. This paper presents a framework that can assist supply chain managers in determining the most important inventory drivers in pharmaceutical supply chains. The findings in this study suggest that while external and downstream supply chain factors are recognized as being critical to pursue inventory optimization initiatives, pharmaceutical companies are oriented towards optimizing production processes and meeting regulatory requirements while still complying with high service levels, being internal factors the ones prevailing when making inventory management decisions. Furthermore, this paper investigates, through predictive modelling techniques, how various intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence the inventory configurations of the case study company. The study shows that inventory configurations are relatively unstable over time, especially in configurations that present high safety stock levels; and that production features and product characteristics are important explanatory factors behind high inventory levels. Regulatory requirements also play an important role in explaining the high strategic inventory levels that pharmaceutical companies hold

Plankton community and copepod production in a temperate coastal lagoon: what is changing in a short temporal scale?

Coastal lagoons are often exposed to intense short-term environmental changes and strong anthropogenic pressures influencing zooplanktonic communities and production. However, most works focus on long-term temporal scales using monthly or seasonal sampling strategies. The present study analysed the structure of the mesozooplanktonic assemblages, the production (egg production rates) and physiological condition (RNA:DNA ratio) of the copepod Acartia clausi in a temperate coastal lagoon (Ria Formosa) during the summer, using an intensive sampling approach. Salinity was the main factor affecting the short-term variability of mesozooplankton composition, followed by tidal phase (ebb tides) and semilunar cycle (spring tides). There was a positive relationship between the abundance of Appendicularia and the cladoceran Penilia avirostris with the toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum, suggesting no deleterious effects. The egg production rate of A. clausi was influenced by salinity and ammonia concentration, with a positive correlation between the egg productivity and the macronutrient, showing a possible adaptation of this calanoid species. The RNA:DNA index was positively related to egg production rate, suggesting that it is a good proxy for the reproductive output of copepods, even in short-term periods. This study shows that different timescales need to be included in regular monitoring of planktonic assemblages in coastal lagoons in order to understand the influence of environmental and anthropogenic variables on marine organisms.Investigador FCT Program: IF/01546/2015. European Regional Development Fund (COMPETE program- Operational Competitiveness Programme), and Portuguese national funds from FCT through projects MODELA (PTDC/MAR/098643/2008), UID/Multi/04326/2016, UID/Multi/04326/2019 and UID/MAR/04292/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Creating a global vision for sustainable fashion

Textiles, the fastest growing sector in household waste, have created an exponential rise in the export of second hand clothes (SHC) to overseas markets such as Kenya and Tanzania. Despite the few advantages for the destination markets (eg, enterprise opportunities), this has exasperated a difficult situation for domestic production. Increased cheap imports from Asia have also led to decline in SHC markets, resulting in increased land filling and the associated environmental impacts. Our research proposes remanufacturing fashion from the unwanted SHC, embellishing using local (destination market) craft/design. From literature review conducted, reuse and remanufacture of clothing causes the least impact on energy use and appears to be the most environmentally and socially friendly approach to sustainability efforts. Remanufacture of clothing is currently practiced at niche market levels, for it to have a broader impact; it needs to gain entry into the mass-market retail arena. In the mass market arena, the apparel value chain is organized around several parts with a marketing network at the retail level. Lead firms predominantly construct these value chains, are predominantly located in developed countries, and may be large retailers and brand-name firms, playing a significant role in specifying what is to be produced, how, and by whom. Our goal is to understand how designers, manufacturers and retailers may work together in a remanufacturing process. We present findings from interviews with Tanzanian second hand clothes retailers and artisans, UK fashion remanufacturers and retailers. We discuss the implications on the fashion design process and propose a new product development method for sustainable consumption of fashion. We conclude by reflecting on potential mechanisms of the supply chain integration and how the large multinationals may become engaged. Key words: remanufacturing, design process, supply chain, second hand clothe

Managing Supplier Involvement in New Product Development: A Multiple-Case Study

Existing studies of supplier involvement in new product development have mainly focused on project-related short-term processes and success-factors. This study validates and extends an existing exploratory framework, which comprises both long-term strategic processes and short-term operational processes that are related to supplier involvement. The empirical validation is based on a multiple-case study of supplier collaborations at a manufacturer in the copier and printer industry. The analysis of eight cases of supplier involvement reveals that the results of supplier-manufacturer collaborations and the associated issues and problems can best be explained by the patterns in the extent to which the manufacturer manages supplier involvement in the short-term ànd the long-term. We find that our initial framework is helpful in understanding why certain collaborations are not effectively managed, yet conclude that the existing analytical distinction between four different management areas does not sufficiently reflect empirical reality. This leads us to reconceptualize and further detail the framework. Instead of four managerial areas, we propose to distinguish between the Strategic Management arena and the Operational Management arena. The Strategic Management arena contains processes that together provide long-term, strategic direction and operational support for project teams adopting supplier involvement. These processes also contribute to building up a supplier base that can meet current and future technology and capability needs. The Operational Management arena contains processes that are aimed at planning, managing and evaluating the actual collaborations in a specific development project. The results of this study suggest that success of involving suppliers in product development is reflected by the firm’s ability to capture both short-term and long-term benefits. If companies spend most of their time on operational management in development projects, they will fail to use the ‘leverage’ effect of planning and preparing such involvement through strategic management activities. Also, they will not be sufficiently able to capture possible long-term technology and learning benefits that may spin off from individual projects. Long-term collaboration benefits can only be captured if a company can build long-term relationships with key suppliers, where it builds learning routines and ensures that the capability sets of both parties are aligned and remain useful for future joint projects.Purchasing;Innovation;New Product Development;R&D Management;Supplier Relations