Reinforce customer satisfaction through enterprise resource planning and supply chain management integration

The purpose of this project is to try and establish a blueprint for integrating Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Supply Chain Management (SCM). ERP and SCM have become popular in many industries because they help companies improve their Information Systems (IS) which helps support their operational goals. New technology is being used in resource planning and e-commerce and a stable supply chain helps corporations integrate many basic applications. This helps facilitate smooth supplier-customer interactions while minimizing transaction costs. This project is trying to provide a way in which to implement ERP systems properly into SCM. It should result in improved business performance and client satisfaction

Förbättring av sågverksplanering genom Industry 4.0 : en fallstudie på VIDA AB

Today, we are standing on the brink of the fourth industrial revolution, called Industry 4.0. This new era has developed from combining new technologies into the manufacturing system, such as artificial intelligence, additive printing, and cyber-physical systems. As one of the largest industries in Sweden, and the fifth largest producer of wooden products globally, operating in one of the most eminent technological countries, one might assume that the Swedish forest industry would be at the forefront of this evolution in the industry. However, due to segregated digital supply chains and a lack of knowledge about the concept, manufacturers struggle to implement a strategy towards the concept. Nevertheless, it does exist an interest in adapting the concept of Industry 4.0 into the industry. One of the key impacts that Industry 4.0 will have on manufacturing systems is the availability of real-time information through the entire value network, allowing decision-making on reality rather than assumptions. It is therefore evident that Industry 4.0 will have a significant impact on operational decision-making, including scheduling. Scheduling manufacturing systems concerns the operational decision-making deciding on “when” to produce the product. Further, scheduling in sawmilling is complex, building on experience and information from several different processes. With this background, it became evident that further research regarding processes' ability to support operational decision-making in Industry 4.0 was needed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to outline the potential of Industry 4.0 for operational scheduling in the sawmill industry. The intent is to explore improvements in the processes' ability to support operational decision-making in Industry 4.0. Information gaps between the scheduler and the processes were mapped using a single-case study, collecting data through participant observations and interviews. Processes in direct contact were evaluated based on their ability to support operational decision-making in Industry 4.0 by using the “Acatech Industrie 4.0 maturity Index”. The results showed that the processes possessed varying abilities to support operational decision-making. Therefore, a four-step roadmap was constructed to improve its processes' ability to support operational decision-making. In the initial stage were improvements of digital capability and integration between the processes and the scheduler recommended. The lacking information about the logs constitution disrupted the scheduler's ability to forecast product output, which resulted in re-scheduling in the following processes. Additionally, improving the processes’ ability to visualize relevant data to the scheduler could improve the trustworthiness of the manufacturing system

Decentralized Resource Scheduling in Grid/Cloud Computing

In the Grid/Cloud environment, applications or services and resources belong to different organizations with different objectives. Entities in the Grid/Cloud are autonomous and self-interested; however, they are willing to share their resources and services to achieve their individual and collective goals. In such open environment, the scheduling decision is a challenge given the decentralized nature of the environment. Each entity has specific requirements and objectives that need to achieve. In this thesis, we review the Grid/Cloud computing technologies, environment characteristics and structure and indicate the challenges within the resource scheduling. We capture the Grid/Cloud scheduling model based on the complete requirement of the environment. We further create a mapping between the Grid/Cloud scheduling problem and the combinatorial allocation problem and propose an adequate economic-based optimization model based on the characteristic and the structure nature of the Grid/Cloud. By adequacy, we mean that a comprehensive view of required properties of the Grid/Cloud is captured. We utilize the captured properties and propose a bidding language that is expressive where entities have the ability to specify any set of preferences in the Grid/Cloud and simple as entities have the ability to express structured preferences directly. We propose a winner determination model and mechanism that utilizes the proposed bidding language and finds a scheduling solution. Our proposed approach integrates concepts and principles of mechanism design and classical scheduling theory. Furthermore, we argue that in such open environment privacy concerns by nature is part of the requirement in the Grid/Cloud. Hence, any scheduling decision within the Grid/Cloud computing environment is to incorporate the feasibility of privacy protection of an entity. Each entity has specific requirements in terms of scheduling and privacy preferences. We analyze the privacy problem in the Grid/Cloud computing environment and propose an economic based model and solution architecture that provides a scheduling solution given privacy concerns in the Grid/Cloud. Finally, as a demonstration of the applicability of the approach, we apply our solution by integrating with Globus toolkit (a well adopted tool to enable Grid/Cloud computing environment). We also, created simulation experimental results to capture the economic and time efficiency of the proposed solution

Open-Source, Open-Architecture SoftwarePlatform for Plug-InElectric Vehicle SmartCharging in California

This interdisciplinary eXtensible Building Operating System–Vehicles project focuses on controlling plug-in electric vehicle charging at residential and small commercial settings using a novel and flexible open-source, open-architecture charge communication and control platform. The platform provides smart charging functionalities and benefits to the utility, homes, and businesses.This project investigates four important areas of vehicle-grid integration research, integrating technical as well as social and behavioral dimensions: smart charging user needs assessment, advanced load control platform development and testing, smart charging impacts, benefits to the power grid, and smart charging ratepayer benefits

Distributed scheduling: A review of concepts and applications

Distributed scheduling (DS) is an approach that enables local decision makers to create schedules that consider local objectives and constraints within the boundaries of the overall system objectives. Local decisions from different parts of the system are then integrated through coordination and communication mechanisms. Distributed scheduling attracts the interest of many researchers from a variety of disciplines, such as computer science, economics, manufacturing, and service operations management. One reason is that the problems faced in this area include issues ranging from information architectures, to negotiation mechanisms, to the design of scheduling algorithms. In this paper, we provide a survey and a critical analysis of the literature on distributed scheduling. While we propose a comprehensive taxonomy that accounts for many factors related to distributed scheduling, we also analyse the body of research in which the scheduling aspect is rigorously discussed. The focus of this paper is to review the studies that concern scheduling algorithms in a distributed architecture, not, for example, protocol languages or database architectures. The contribution of this paper is twofold: to unify the literature within our scope under a common terminology and to determine the critical design factors unique to distributed scheduling and in relation to centralised scheduling. © 2010 Taylor & Francis

Balancing Demand and Supply in Complex Manufacturing Operations: Tactical-Level Planning Processes

By balancing medium-term demand and supply, tactical planning enables manufacturing firms to realize strategic, long-term business objectives. However, such balancing in engineer-to-order (ETO) and configured-to-order (CTO) operations, due to the constant pressure of substantial complexity (e.g., volatility, uncertainty, and ambiguity), induces frequent swings between over- and undercapacity and thus considerable financial losses. Manufacturers respond to such complexity by using planning processes that address the business’s needs and risks at various medium-term horizons, ranging from 3 months to 3 years. Because the importance of decision-making increases exponentially as the horizon shrinks, understanding the interaction between complexity and demand-supply balancing requires extending findings reported in the literature on operations and supply chain planning and control. Therefore, this thesis addresses complexity’s impact on planning medium-term demand-supply balancing on three horizons: the strategic– tactical interface, the tactical level, and the tactical–operational interface.To explore complexity’s impact on demand–supply balancing in planning processes, the thesis draws on five studies, the first two of which addressed customer order fulfillment in ETO operations. Whereas Study I, an in-depth single-case study, examined relevant tactical-level decisions, planning activities, and their interface with the complexity affecting demand–supply balancing at the strategic–tactical interface, Study II, an in-depth multiple-case study, revealed the cross-functional mechanisms of integration affecting those decisions and activities and their impact on complexity. Next, Study III, also an in-depth multiple-case study, investigated areas of uncertainty, information-processing needs (IPNs), and information-processing mechanisms (IPMs) within sales and operations planning in ETO operations. By contrast, Studies IV and V addressed material delivery schedules (MDSs) in CTO operations; whereas Study IV, another in-depth multiple-case study, identified complexity interactions causing MDS instability at the tactical–operational interface, Study V, a case study, quantitatively explained how several factors affect MDS instability.Compiling six papers based on those five studies, the thesis contributes to theory and practice by extending knowledge about relationships between complexity and demand–supply balancing within a medium-term horizon. Its theoretical contributions, in building upon and supporting the limited knowledge on tactical planning in complex manufacturing operations, consist of a detailed tactical-level planning framework, identifying IPNs generated by uncertainty, pinpointing causal and moderating factors of MDS instability, and balancing complexity-reducing and complexity-absorbing strategies, cross-functional integrative mechanisms, IPMs, and dimensions of planning process quality. Meanwhile, its practical contributions consist of concise yet holistic descriptions of relationships between complexity in context and in demand– supply balancing. Manufacturers can readily capitalize on those descriptions to develop and implement context-appropriate tactical-level planning processes that enable efficient, informed, and effective decision-making

Integrating Consumer Flexibility in Smart Grid and Mobility Systems - An Online Optimization and Online Mechanism Design Approach

Consumer flexibility may provide an important lever to align supply and demand in service systems. However, harnessing dispersed flexibility endowments in the presence of self-interested agents requires appropriate incentive structures. This thesis quantifies the potential value of consumers\u27 flexibility in smart grid and mobility systems. In order to include incentives, online optimization approaches are augmented with methods from online mechanism design

Implementation of Electronic Commerce in the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

President Clinton's Executive Memorandum of 26 October 1993 mandated that all Federal Government agencies implement Electronic Commerce (EC) in order to 'simplify and streamline the purchasing process.' Two agencies, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) employed divergent strategies and policies in implementing the President's Memorandum. The DoD pursued a strategy using an existing DoD electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange (EC/EDI) architecture. The NASA employed an Internet based tool, the NASA Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS), as the cornerstone of its EC program. This thesis examines the unique approach each agency employed, analyzing organizational theory and other influential factors to explain why two Federal agencies chose to implement such different strategies.http://archive.org/details/implementationof1094531984NAU.S. Navy (U.S.N.) authorApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited