A cloud-based supply chain management system: effects on supply chain responsiveness

Purpose: Despite the ongoing calls for the incorporation of the cloud utility model, the effect of the cloud on elements of supply chain performance is still an evolving area of research. In this paper, we develop the architecture of a cloud-based supply chain management (C-SCM) ecosystem and explore how it enhances supply chain responsiveness. Design/methodology/approach: First, we discuss the potential benefits that cloud computing can yield compared to existing mature SCM information systems and solutions through a comprehensive literature review. We conceptualize SCR in terms of the level of visibility in the supply chain, supply chain flexibility, and rapid detection and reaction to changes and then we build the detailed architecture of a cloud based SCM system. The proposed ecosystem introduces a view of SCM and the associated practices when transferred to cloud environments. The potential to enhance SCR through the cloud is explored with scenarios on a case of supply chain operations in fashion retail industry. Findings: Our findings show that the proposed system can enhance all three dimensions of SCR. Implications for supply chain practice and how companies can migrate to a cloud supply chain are drawn. Originality/Value: Given that the development, creation, and delivery of goods and services is increasingly becoming a joint effort of several parties in a supply chain, we contribute to existing literature, by introducing a comprehensive cloud-based SCM system and show how companies can enhance their supply chain responsiveness

Ensuring Logistics Integrity: An Ethereum Framework

In this study, we examine the potential benefits and difficulties of integrating blockchain technology based on Ethereum into logistics management systems. Our goal is to offer a thorough grasp of this technology's influence on the logistics sector by looking at its theoretical underpinnings and real-world implementations. Significant outcomes from our research include greater logistic transparency, real-time updates, increased security, and automation of contractual duties. These findings underscore the need to embrace innovation and create a legislative framework that facilitates the implementation of blockchain technology, with broad ramifications for logistics firms and legislators. Our study adds to the expanding corpus of information on the application of blockchain technology in logistics, offering insightful information to scholars, policymakers, and business professionals

Go with the Flow - Design of Cloud Logistics Service Blueprints

By adopting principles of cloud computing to the \ logistics domain the paradigm of Cloud Logistics is derived. It \ appears to be a promising paradigm in order to evolve logistics \ into being more flexible and collaborative. Yet, appropriate \ concepts that enable the cloud logistics paradigm are missing. \ In the paper, existing body of literature is reviewed and a \ definition and a framework of cloud logistics is given. Further, \ service blueprinting is combined with domain engineering and \ general morphological analysis in order to create a suitable \ method for designing cloud oriented service blueprints. Those \ are focusing on domain-specific flows and transformations \ enabling cloud oriented business collaboration. The method \ is applied to the logistics domain and a cloud logistics service \ blueprint is designed. Finally, the concept is evaluated with \ real use cases from logistics service providers

An Agent-based Approach for Improving the Performance of Distributed Business Processes in Maritime Port Community

In the recent years, the concept of “port community” has been adopted by the maritime transport industry in order to achieve a higher degree of coordination and cooperation amongst organizations involved in the transfer of goods through the port area. The business processes of the port community supply chain form a complicated process which involves several process steps, multiple actors, and numerous information exchanges. One of the widely used applications of ICT in ports is the Port Community System (PCS) which is implemented in ports in order to reduce paperwork and to facilitate the information flow related to port operations and cargo clearance. However, existing PCSs are limited in functionalities that facilitate the management and coordination of material, financial, and information flows within the port community supply chain. This research programme addresses the use of agent technology to introduce business process management functionalities, which are vital for port communities, aiming to the enhancement of the performance of the port community supply chain. The investigation begins with an examination of the current state in view of the business perspective and the technical perspective. The business perspective focuses on understanding the nature of the port community, its main characteristics, and its problems. Accordingly, a number of requirements are identified as essential amendments to information systems in seaports. On the other hand, the technical perspective focuses on technologies that are convenient for solving problems in business process management within port communities. The research focuses on three technologies; the workflow technology, agent technology, and service orientation. An analysis of information systems across port communities enables an examination of the current PCSs with regard to their coordination and workflow management capabilities. The most important finding of this analysis is that the performance of the business processes, and in particular the performance of the port community supply chain, is not in the scope of the examined PCSs. Accordingly, the Agent-Based Middleware for Port Community Management (ABMPCM) is proposed as an approach for providing essential functionalities that would facilitate collaborative planning and business process management. As a core component of the ABMPCM, the Collaborative Planning Facility (CPF) is described in further details. A CPF prototype has been developed as an agent-based system for the domain of inland transport of containers to demonstrate its practical effectiveness. To evaluate the practical application of the CPF, a simulation environment is introduced in order to facilitate the evaluation process. The research started with the definition of a multi-agent simulation framework for port community supply chain. Then, a prototype has been implemented and employed for the evaluation of the CPF. The results of the simulation experiments demonstrate that our agent-based approach effectively enhances the performance of business process in the port community

Design and evaluation of a scalable Internet of Things backend for smart ports

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, when adequately integrated, cater for logistics optimisation and operations' environmental impact monitoring, both key aspects for today's EU ports management. This article presents Obelisk, a scalable and multi-tenant cloud-based IoT integration platform used in the EU H2020 PortForward project. The landscape of IoT protocols being particularly fragmented, the first role of Obelisk is to provide uniform access to data originating from a myriad of devices and protocols. Interoperability is achieved through adapters that provide flexibility and evolvability in protocol and format mapping. Additionally, due to ports operating in a hub model with various interacting actors, a second role of Obelisk is to secure access to data. This is achieved through encryption and isolation for data transport and processing, respectively, while user access control is ensured through authentication and authorisation standards. Finally, as ports IoTisation will further evolve, a third need for Obelisk is to scale with the data volumes it must ingest and process. Platform scalability is achieved by means of a reactive micro-services based design. Those three essential characteristics are detailed in this article with a specific focus on how to achieve IoT data platform scalability. By means of an air quality monitoring use-case deployed in the city of Antwerp, the scalability of the platform is evaluated. The evaluation shows that the proposed reactive micro-service based design allows for horizontal scaling of the platform as well as for logarithmic time complexity of its service time

Discrete Event Simulations

Considered by many authors as a technique for modelling stochastic, dynamic and discretely evolving systems, this technique has gained widespread acceptance among the practitioners who want to represent and improve complex systems. Since DES is a technique applied in incredibly different areas, this book reflects many different points of view about DES, thus, all authors describe how it is understood and applied within their context of work, providing an extensive understanding of what DES is. It can be said that the name of the book itself reflects the plurality that these points of view represent. The book embraces a number of topics covering theory, methods and applications to a wide range of sectors and problem areas that have been categorised into five groups. As well as the previously explained variety of points of view concerning DES, there is one additional thing to remark about this book: its richness when talking about actual data or actual data based analysis. When most academic areas are lacking application cases, roughly the half part of the chapters included in this book deal with actual problems or at least are based on actual data. Thus, the editor firmly believes that this book will be interesting for both beginners and practitioners in the area of DES

Warehousing and Inventory Management in Dual Channel and Global Supply Chains

More firms are adopting the dual-channel supply chain business model where firms offer their products to customers using dual-channel sales (to offer the item to customers online and offline). The development periods of innovative products have been shortened, especially for high-tech companies, which leads to products with short life cycles. This means that companies need to put their new products on the market as soon as possible. The dual-channel supply chain is a perfect tool to increase the customer’s awareness of new products and to keep customers’ loyalty; firms can offer new products online to the customer faster compared to the traditional retail sales channel. The emergence of dual-channel firms was mainly driven by the expansion in internet use and the advances in information and manufacturing technologies. No existing research has examined inventory strategies, warehouse structure, operations, and capacity in a dual-channel context. Additionally, firms are in need to integrate their global suppliers base; where the lower parts costs compensate for the much higher procurement and cross-border costs; in their supply chain operations. The most common method used to integrate the global supplier base is the use of cross-dock, also known as Third Party Logistic (3PL). This study is motivated by real-world problem, no existing research has considered the optimization of cross-dock operations in terms of dock assignment, storage locations, inventory strategies, and lead time uncertainty in the context of a cross-docking system. In this dissertation, we first study the dual-channel warehouse in the dual-channel supply chain. One of the challenges in running the dual-channel warehouse is how to organize the warehouse and manage inventory to fulfill both online and offline (retailer) orders, where the orders from different channels have different features. A model for a dual-channel warehouse in a dual-channel supply chain is proposed, and a solution approach is developed in the case of deterministic and stochastic lead times. Ending up with numerical examples to highlight the model’s validity and its usefulness as a decision support tool. Second, we extend the first problem to include the global supplier and the cross-border time. The impact of global suppliers and the effect of the cross-border time on the dual-channel warehouse are studied. A cross-border dual-channel warehouse model in a dual-channel supply chain context is proposed. In addition to demand and lead time uncertainty, the cross-border time is included as stochastic parameter. Numerical results and managerial insights are also presented for this problem. Third, motivated by a real-world cross-dock problem, we perform a study at one of the big 3 automotive companies in the USA. The company faces the challenges of optimizing their operations and managing the items in the 3PL when introducing new products. Thus, we investigate a dock assignment problem that considers the dock capacity and storage space and a cross-dock layout. We propose an integrated model to combine the cross-dock assignment problem with cross-dock layout problem so that cross-dock operations can be coordinated effectively. In addition to lead time uncertainty, the cross-border time is included as stochastic parameter. Real case study and numerical results and managerial insights are also presented for this problem highlighting the cross-border effect. Solution methodologies, managerial insights, numerical analysis as well as conclusions and potential future study topics are also provided in this dissertation

Exploring Latent Factors Influencing the Adoption of a Processed Food Traceability System in South Korea

Several recalls of dietary supplements and infant formula not only caused direct economic loss to processors but also created distrust of food traceability systems(FTSs) initiated by government. In Korea, mandatory FTS regulations on infant formula and dietary supplements were enacted at the end of 2014, allowing the government to collect electronic traceability data to cope with food outbreaks. The aim of this study is to examine the influence and process of latent factors by developing a theoretical model and testing empirical data from the Korean processed food sector. The particular value of this study is to identify the latent factors influencing the diffusion ofan electronic FTS. Three external factors (organizational adaptability, validity and awareness of FTS) were incorporated into a technology acceptance model (TAM) based on previous studies, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as a tool for confirmatory analysis. The validity of FTSs has a prominent effect on attitudes toward FTSs and compliance intentions. Contrary to the findings of previous studies, organizational adaptability does not influence a positive effect on attitudes toward FTS. Furthermore, subgroup analysis showedthat retailers reacted significantly to the different influences than manufacturers. The findings of this paper have implications for both policy makers and regulatory authorities. The results of this theoretical and practical study contribute to establishing a conceptual framework and motivate additional researches on FTS adoption and diffusion in processed food sectors