Critical Management Issues for Implementing RFID in Supply Chain Management

The benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in the supply chain are fairly compelling. It has the potential to revolutionise the efficiency, accuracy and security of the supply chain with significant impact on overall profitability. A number of companies are actively involved in testing and adopting this technology. It is estimated that the market for RFID products and services will increase significantly in the next few years. Despite this trend, there are major impediments to RFID adoption in supply chain. While RFID systems have been around for several decades, the technology for supply chain management is still emerging. We describe many of the challenges, setbacks and barriers facing RFID implementations in supply chains, discuss the critical issues for management and offer some suggestions. In the process, we take an in-depth look at cost, technology, standards, privacy and security and business process reengineering related issues surrounding RFID technology in supply chains

The impact of freight transport capacity limitations on supply chain dynamics

We investigate how capacity limitations in the transportation system affect the dynamic behaviour of supply chains. We are interested in the more recently defined, 'backlash' effect. Using a system dynamics simulation approach, we replicate the well-known Beer Game supply chain for different transport capacity management scenarios. The results indicate that transport capacity limitations negatively impact on inventory and backlog costs, although there is a positive impact on the 'backlash' effect. We show that it is possible for both backlog and inventory to simultaneous occur, a situation which does not arise with the uncapacitated scenario. A vertical collaborative approach to transport provision is able to overcome such a trade-off. © 2013 Taylor & Francis

Building a Collaborative Digital Collection: A Necessary Evolution in Libraries

Law libraries are losing ground in the effort to preserve information in the digital age. In part, this is due declining budgets, user needs, and a caution born from the great responsibility libraries feel to ensure future access instead of selecting a form that may not survive. That caution, though, has caused others, such as Google, to fill the silence with their vision. Libraries must stand and contribute actively to the creation of digital collections if we expect a voice in future discussion. This article presents a vision of the start of a collaborative, digital academic law library, one that will harness our collective strengths while still allowing individual collections to prosper. It seeks to identify and answer the thorniest issues - including copyright - surrounding digitization projects. It does not presume to solve all of these issues. It is, however, intended to be a call for collective action, to stop discussing the law library of the future and to start building it

Vessels for the future

The European research association Vessels for the Future was launched in November 2014. It has members has 59 members (as of May 2015) in 14 EU Member States. Members represent ship owners, ship yards, ship system suppliers, classification societies, research institutes, university departments and industry associations. Hence Vessels for the Future brings together a leading group of maritime stakeholders with a common interest to ensure that European maritime research has a strong and vibrant future sustaining a competitive maritime industry. This will be achieved through agreeing collaborative research and with the support of public and private financing

Leveraging Information Sharing to Increase Supply Chain Configurability

As supply chains evolve beyond the confines of individual organizations, collaboration has become the Holy Grail in supply chain technology. It plays a key role in achieving flexibility and responsiveness. Information sharing between partners is a key determinant of collaboration. This paper investigates information sharing in four different supply chains—3PL, VMI, CPFR, and supply networks—and compares their information sharing structures, shared data objects, and information flow models. The results show how the various parameters of an information flow model constrain the level of collaboration. Further, the modeling exercise provides insights on how to configure a collaborative supply chain by leveraging information sharing

The influence of promotional activity on supply chain stability: a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) perspective.

Master of Commerce. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2014.Today, most sales are stimulated at the point of purchase, so sales promotions are becoming a crucial element of any marketing campaign. The consequence of these promotions is the creation of unpredictable demand. The resultant instability has been termed the “Bullwhip Effect” (BWE). The BWE has a negative effect on business performance as it creates information distortions that cause excessive inventory holdings, higher overall costs, poor customer service and lost sales. An important strategy to achieve a smooth flowing supply chain is to mitigate or preferably eliminate the BWE. The aim of this research was to monitor the stock levels of a high value product flowing through the supply chain to determine whether marketing activities, such as promotions, contribute to increased instability in the chain. The study followed a case study approach and analysed the business activities of consumer packaged goods company (CPGC) “X” promoting their product “X”, an item of high value, with retailer “X”. The promotion was monitored in three phases. The phases included pre-promotion planning, execution of the promotion and post promotion analysis. The researcher employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research established that the ROI on the promotion was greater than the target and that the retailer made an additional profit. However, when the assessment of ROI included more of the supply chain, there was a negative operating profit due to excess upstream inventory. The study confirmed that promotional activities contribute to the BWE and that this effect may be more pronounced with products of higher value. The phenomenon worsened as the distance of supply chain nodes from the real demand increased. This caused a major shift in ordering patterns and an altered total inventory pipe fill in the chain. The recommendations arising from this study are that the CPGC and retailer should implement a true scorecard and a joint business plan for those brands that have products of high value. Subsequently, a vendor managed inventory (VMI) system should be implemented. This will remove the retailer’s need to forecast and may prevent unstable ordering and delays due to cost avoidance. Shrinkage will be reduced as the CPGC would directly own, control and supply stock in the retailer’s DCs

Holism versus reductionism in supply chain management: An economic analysis

Since supply chains are increasingly built on complex interdependences, concerns to adopt new managerial approaches based on collaboration have surged. Nonetheless, implementing an efficient collaborative solution is a wide process where several obstacles must be faced. This work explores the key role of experimentation as a model-driven decision support system for managers in the convoluted decision-making process required to evolve from a reductionist approach (where the overall strategy is the sum of individual strategies) to a holistic approach (where global optimization is sought through collaboration). We simulate a four-echelon supply chain within a large noise scenario, while a fractional factorial design of experiments (DoE) with eleven factors was used to explore cause-effect relationships. By providing evidence in a wide range of conditions of the superiority of the holistic approach, supply chain participants can be certain to move away from their natural reductionist behavior. Thereupon, practitioners focus on implementing the solution. The theory of constraints (TOC) defines an appropriate framework, where the Drum–Buffer–Rope (DBR) method integrates supply chain processes and synchronizes decisions. In addition, this work provides evidence of the need for aligning incentives in order to eliminate the risk to deviate. Modeling and simulation, especially agent-based techniques, allows practitioners to develop awareness of complex organizational problems. Hence, these prototypes can be interpreted as forceful laboratories for decision making and business transformation

Synchromodality as a prospective digitalization scheme for freight logistics : a pre-study report

The proliferation of digital technologies presents a potential avenue to transform the freight logistics industry by streamlining the information flow, increasing the flexibility of transportation routes, and creating a more effective and efficient freight logistics system. In an endeavor to gain a comprehensive understanding of the industry’s needs/challenges and to formulate a proficient policy framework to address them, a pre-study was undertaken at the World Maritime University (WMU). This scholarly exploration centered on the concept of synchromodality, which involves the harmonization of different freight logistics modalities. The study delineates a working definition of synchromodality within the context of freight logistics. Furthermore, it proffers a Synchromodality Maturity Model designed to evaluate the digitalization progress of stakeholders in the industry. This assessment is supported by case investigations into Roll-on/Roll-off logistics in Sweden. Working Definition: Synchromodality is an operational concept applicable to freight logistics for the purpose of adding value to customers by organizing and utilizing resources in an effective and efficient way, that can be achieved through facilitating integration amongst stakeholders along the logistics chain and enhancing their operational visibility and flexibility. The outcomes of this study carry noteworthy implications for both policy formulation and industrial implementation. The study advocates that policymakers allocate considerable resources to invest in digital infrastructure and establish standardized data protocols to foster collaborative partnerships. Moreover, logistics service providers are encouraged to pivot their strategies on generating customer value, nurturing collaborative ecosystems, and enhancing human capital in the context of data-centric methodologies. It is postulated that synchromodality could increase operational efficiency through optimal utilization of transportation resources, improve environmental sustainability, and enhance customer satisfaction. Exploring future studies in this area is required to achieve synchromodality in practice, such as: Towards enhancing digital infrastructure for greater freight logistics services Towards striving for seamless integration of all stakeholders in freight logistics chains Towards facilitating technology adoption in the freight logistics network This pre-study project was funded by Trafikverket and was supported by various logistics companies, shippers, and academic organizations.https://commons.wmu.se/lib_reports/1092/thumbnail.jp

The Future of Retail Operations

Retailing consists of all the activities associated with the selling of goods to the final consumer. In this article, we review the research on retail operations published in Manufacturing & Service Operations Research (M&SOM) since 1999. We then discuss the current retail landscape and the new research directions it offers, in which M&SOM can play a prominent role