Supply Chain

Traditionally supply chain management has meant factories, assembly lines, warehouses, transportation vehicles, and time sheets. Modern supply chain management is a highly complex, multidimensional problem set with virtually endless number of variables for optimization. An Internet enabled supply chain may have just-in-time delivery, precise inventory visibility, and up-to-the-minute distribution-tracking capabilities. Technology advances have enabled supply chains to become strategic weapons that can help avoid disasters, lower costs, and make money. From internal enterprise processes to external business transactions with suppliers, transporters, channels and end-users marks the wide range of challenges researchers have to handle. The aim of this book is at revealing and illustrating this diversity in terms of scientific and theoretical fundamentals, prevailing concepts as well as current practical applications

Applications of biased-randomized algorithms and simheuristics in integrated logistics

Transportation and logistics (T&L) activities play a vital role in the development of many businesses from different industries. With the increasing number of people living in urban areas, the expansion of on-demand economy and e-commerce activities, the number of services from transportation and delivery has considerably increased. Consequently, several urban problems have been potentialized, such as traffic congestion and pollution. Several related problems can be formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem (COP). Since most of them are NP-Hard, the finding of optimal solutions through exact solution methods is often impractical in a reasonable amount of time. In realistic settings, the increasing need for 'instant' decision-making further refutes their use in real life. Under these circumstances, this thesis aims at: (i) identifying realistic COPs from different industries; (ii) developing different classes of approximate solution approaches to solve the identified T&L problems; (iii) conducting a series of computational experiments to validate and measure the performance of the developed approaches. The novel concept of 'agile optimization' is introduced, which refers to the combination of biased-randomized heuristics with parallel computing to deal with real-time decision-making.Las actividades de transporte y logística (T&L) juegan un papel vital en el desarrollo de muchas empresas de diferentes industrias. Con el creciente número de personas que viven en áreas urbanas, la expansión de la economía a lacarta y las actividades de comercio electrónico, el número de servicios de transporte y entrega ha aumentado considerablemente. En consecuencia, se han potencializado varios problemas urbanos, como la congestión del tráfico y la contaminación. Varios problemas relacionados pueden formularse como un problema de optimización combinatoria (COP). Dado que la mayoría de ellos son NP-Hard, la búsqueda de soluciones óptimas a través de métodos de solución exactos a menudo no es práctico en un período de tiempo razonable. En entornos realistas, la creciente necesidad de una toma de decisiones "instantánea" refuta aún más su uso en la vida real. En estas circunstancias, esta tesis tiene como objetivo: (i) identificar COP realistas de diferentes industrias; (ii) desarrollar diferentes clases de enfoques de solución aproximada para resolver los problemas de T&L identificados; (iii) realizar una serie de experimentos computacionales para validar y medir el desempeño de los enfoques desarrollados. Se introduce el nuevo concepto de optimización ágil, que se refiere a la combinación de heurísticas aleatorias sesgadas con computación paralela para hacer frente a la toma de decisiones en tiempo real.Les activitats de transport i logística (T&L) tenen un paper vital en el desenvolupament de moltes empreses de diferents indústries. Amb l'augment del nombre de persones que viuen a les zones urbanes, l'expansió de l'economia a la carta i les activitats de comerç electrònic, el nombre de serveis del transport i el lliurament ha augmentat considerablement. En conseqüència, s'han potencialitzat diversos problemes urbans, com ara la congestió del trànsit i la contaminació. Es poden formular diversos problemes relacionats com a problema d'optimització combinatòria (COP). Com que la majoria són NP-Hard, la recerca de solucions òptimes mitjançant mètodes de solució exactes sovint no és pràctica en un temps raonable. En entorns realistes, la creixent necessitat de prendre decisions "instantànies" refuta encara més el seu ús a la vida real. En aquestes circumstàncies, aquesta tesi té com a objectiu: (i) identificar COP realistes de diferents indústries; (ii) desenvolupar diferents classes d'aproximacions aproximades a la solució per resoldre els problemes identificats de T&L; (iii) la realització d'una sèrie d'experiments computacionals per validar i mesurar el rendiment dels enfocaments desenvolupats. S'introdueix el nou concepte d'optimització àgil, que fa referència a la combinació d'heurístiques esbiaixades i aleatòries amb informàtica paral·lela per fer front a la presa de decisions en temps real.Tecnologies de la informació i de xarxe

Developing Supply Chain Agility for the High-Volume and High-Variety Industry

Supply chains are under pressure to meet performance expectations under conditions in which access to the global network of suppliers and customers is fluid. Most studies accept the importance of agility to enhance performance using flexibility as a key dimension. Moreover, based on literature and empirical implications, it is essentially noticeable that there is an agreement on the need for flexibility in manufacturing to address both internal changes at the manufacturing echelon (e.g., a variation of process times) and external uncertainties (e.g., availability of ingredients, delivery schedules).However, there is a lack of adoptable metrics of manufacturing flexibility that can be used to evaluate manufacturing flexibility’s impact to enhance TH and reduce cost, both at the manufacturing echelon and the supply chain as a system as well as its impact on other echelons. Therefore, focusing on manufacturing flexibility as a competitive strategy induces a driving force for the success of the performance of supply chains. The purpose of this research is to present an applicable methodology for the evaluation of flexibility in a supply chain called Flexible Discrete Supply Chain (FDSC). The FDSC structure consists of a supplier, manufacturer, distributor, and customer as its conceptual model. Two main performance indicators – TH and cost are used to study the FDSC performance. This study utilizes four dimensions: volume, delivery, mix, and innovation (VDMI) flexibility. Quality function deployment is used to translate the dimensions of flexibility to key metrics that can be controlled in a discrete-event simulation (DES) model. The DES model is used to generate data, and for configuring VDMI metrics. The data is used for further sensitivity analysis. The developed methodology is verified and validated using data from a real case study. It is applicable to all supply chains within the FDSC criteria. This study contributes to the body of knowledge of supply chain flexibility through technical, methodical, and managerial implications. It clearly illustrated scenarios and provided guidelines for operations managers, to test among VMDI flexibility to maximize TH constrained by cost. Key directions for future research are identified

Application of Optimization in Production, Logistics, Inventory, Supply Chain Management and Block Chain

The evolution of industrial development since the 18th century is now experiencing the fourth industrial revolution. The effect of the development has propagated into almost every sector of the industry. From inventory to the circular economy, the effectiveness of technology has been fruitful for industry. The recent trends in research, with new ideas and methodologies, are included in this book. Several new ideas and business strategies are developed in the area of the supply chain management, logistics, optimization, and forecasting for the improvement of the economy of the society and the environment. The proposed technologies and ideas are either novel or help modify several other new ideas. Different real life problems with different dimensions are discussed in the book so that readers may connect with the recent issues in society and industry. The collection of the articles provides a glimpse into the new research trends in technology, business, and the environment

Modeling of Biological Intelligence for SCM System Optimization

This article summarizes some methods from biological intelligence for modeling and optimization of supply chain management (SCM) systems, including genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, differential evolution, swarm intelligence, artificial immune, and other biological intelligence related methods. An SCM system is adaptive, dynamic, open self-organizing, which is maintained by flows of information, materials, goods, funds, and energy. Traditional methods for modeling and optimizing complex SCM systems require huge amounts of computing resources, and biological intelligence-based solutions can often provide valuable alternatives for efficiently solving problems. The paper summarizes the recent related methods for the design and optimization of SCM systems, which covers the most widely used genetic algorithms and other evolutionary algorithms

Lean production and agile organizaton : the link between supply chain and sustainable development

A paraîtreWhile there could be separate streams of established research on lean production, agile organization and sustainable supply chain, the idea is to address the intersection of these strategic initiatives in order to find synergies and competitive advantage for companies. The goal of this mission is to explore the link between supply chains and sustainable development with the insights of the two main paradigms in the changing competitive environment : lean and agility. On the one side, the focus of the lean approach has essentially been on the elimination of waste and all non value activities. On the other side, a key characteristic of an agile organization is flexibility at different echelon. The concern is to analyze how companies could manage the lean and agility principles in the supply chain with sustainable development at the different stage of the supply chain

Tedarik zinciri optimizasyon çalışmaları: Literatür araştırması ve sınıflama

Supply chain planning is an integrated process in which a group of several organizations, such as suppliers, producers, distributors and retailers, work together. It comprises procurement, production, distribution and demand planning topics. These topics require taking strategical, tactical and operational decisions. This research aims to reveal which supply chain topics, which decision levels, and which optimization methods are mostly studied in supply chain planning. This paper presents a total of 77 reviewed works published between 1993 and 2016 about supply chain planning. The reviewed works are categorized according to following elements: decision levels, supply chain optimization topics, objectives, optimization models.Tedarik Zinciri, tedarikçiler, üreticiler, dağıtıcılar ve toptancılar gibi bir grup organizasyonu birleştiren entegre bir süreçtir. Tedarik, üretim, dağıtım ve talep planlama konularını içerir. Bu konular stratejik, taktik ve operasyonel kararlar almayı gerektirir. Bu araştırma tedarik zinciri planlamasında hangi tedarik zinciri konularının, hangi karar/planlama seviyelerinin ve hangi optimizasyon metotlarının literatürde en çok çalışıldığını göstermektedir. Çalışma 1993 ve 2016 yılları arasındaki tedarik zinciri planlama konusundaki 77 adet çalışmanın incelenmesine ait sonuçları sunmaktadır. İncelenen çalışmalar şu kriterlere gore kategorize edilmiştir: karar seviyesi, tedarik zinciri optimizasyon konuları, amaçlar, optimizasyon modelleri

Supply Chain Management and Management Science: A Successful Marriage

The last century has witnessed extant studies on the applications of Management Science (MS) to a diverse set of Supply Chain Management (SCM) issues. This paper provides an overview of the contribution of MS within SCM. A framework is developed in this paper with a sampling of MS contributions to major SCM dimensions. Future research directions are presented