A resilient approach to manage a Supply Chain Network

Today we depend more and more on logistic networks, which often know nothing, or worse, on which our power of control is almost zero. It is impossible to imagine a life without certain types of products or food, all of that to get us often follow long and complex network and therefore vulnerable. Let see how increase in energy costs has engulfed many small companies. Differently by rising energy costs, there are also changes that are not so easily predictable, so it is essential for the survival of a company to have “redundant” resources, able to operate strategies and proactive behavior. It’s important to be flexible and adapt better to the changes that are imposed by external or even internal conditions. More than on flexibility, it is necessary to focus on the concept of Resilience, which requires the ability to remain calm, to address a crisis, but maybe leave it weakened but with the strength, the ability and the confidence to create a tomorrow of own business, adapting to change

A decision support tool, implemented in a system dynamics model, to improve the effectiveness in the hospital emergency department

The emergency department of a hospital is, among all areas in which lean policies are focused, the one that has received the most attention. The emergency room, in fact, plays a vital role in providing primary care to patients and is also recognized for the contribution it gives to society. The important results in terms of cost savings and improving the flow due to the reduction of the waiting time of the patients, obtained from major international hospitals, were crucial to assess whether it was possible and useful to implement similar improvements in Italy, certainly not without to many problems in the provision of health services. This paper explores what can be improved for the department to be more efficient, using simulation techniques based on dynamic and continuous logics (system dynamics)

WEEE reverse logistics and its impact on economic and environmental sustainability: computer industry case studies

High consumption and shorter product life cycle of EEE (electrical and electronic equipment) have been generating huge WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) over time. However, simply low percentage of them is reprocessed and most of them end up in landfill. It significantly threatens human and ecological health due to hazardous materials and toxic chemicals contained in WEEE particularly computer waste. The circumstances urge local and federal governments to enact regulations and legislations regarding electronic waste (e-waste) in order to protect the environment. In addition to legislation compliance intention, EEE manufacturers have to manage their reverse logistics properly for profit-oriented purpose. Therefore, how to manage WEEE reverse logistics in computer industry with financial and environmental performance criteria becomes a research question. Accordingly, long-range economic and environmental sustainability of reverse logistics systems constituting part return management by its own manufacturer in computer industry are studied in this research. Two models by means of system dynamics (SD) methodology have been developed to represent the reverse logistics (RL) or reverse chain and the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) systems. In the first model which is for economic sustainability (EconS), the network consists of collection, shipment, repackage, repair, recycling, supplier’s credit, supplier’s exchange, recovered part sales, recycled material sales and disposal activities. Moreover, the second model which is for environmental sustainability (EnviS), the structure integrates the reverse chain of the first model and a forward chain containing material procurement, production, distribution and part sales. Subsequently, two respective case studies have been executed to validate the models and evaluate two particular sets of influential factors on manufacturer’s profitability and environmental sustainability index as the systems performance measurements consecutively. In the first case study, six influential factors namely part type, return quality, market attractiveness, custom duty percentage, shipping cost and re-processor location attractiveness are evaluated on economic sustainability of the part recovery systems. Further, in the second case study, five significant factors namely part type, return quality, re-processor location, collection percentage and recycling percentage are examined on environmental sustainability of the CLSC part recovery systems. Based on both simulation results, the corresponding optimal policies are recommended for the company in managing its reverse logistics systems. Moreover, the developed SD models can be utilised by relevant companies as experimental tools in managing their reverse logistics operations in order to maximise their profit and environmental sustainability index