An Ontology for Product-Service Systems

Industries are transforming their business strategy from a product-centric to a more service-centric nature by bundling products and services into integrated solutions to enhance the relationship between their customers. Since Product- Service Systems design research is currently at a rudimentary stage, the development of a robust ontology for this area would be helpful. The advantages of a standardized ontology are that it could help researchers and practitioners to communicate their views without ambiguity and thus encourage the conception and implementation of useful methods and tools. In this paper, an initial structure of a PSS ontology from the design perspective is proposed and evaluated

The role of supply chain integration in achieving competitive advantage: A study of UK automobile manufacturers

The competitive nature of the global automobile industry has resulted in a battle for efficiency and consistency in supply chain management (SCM). For manufacturers, the diversified network of suppliers represents more than just a production system; it is a strategic asset that must be managed, evaluated, and revised in order to attain competitive advantage. One capability that has become an increasingly essential means of alignment and assessment is supply chain integration (SCI). Through such practices, manufacturers create informational capital that is inimitable, yet transferrable, allowing suppliers to participate in a mutually-beneficial system of performance-centred outcomes. From cost reduction to time improvements to quality control, the benefits of SCI extend throughout the supply chain lifecycle, providing firms with improved predictability, flexibility, and responsiveness. Yet in spite of such benefits, key limitations including exposure to risks, supplier failures, or changing competitive conditions may expose manufacturers to a vulnerable position that can severely impact value and performance. The current study summarizes the perspectives and predictions of managers within the automobile industry in the UK, highlighting a dynamic model of interdependency and interpolation that embraces SCI as a strategic resource. Full commitment to integration is critical to achieving improved outcomes and performance; therefore, firms seeking to integrate throughout their extended supply chain must be willing to embrace a less centralized locus of control

Shipbuilding 4.0 Index Approaching Supply Chain

The shipbuilding industry shows a special interest in adapting to the changes proposed by the industry 4.0. This article bets on the development of an index that indicates the current situation considering that supply chain is a key factor in any type of change, and at the same time it serves as a control tool in the implementation of improvements. The proposed indices provide a first definition of the paradigm or paradigms that best fit the supply chain in order to improve its sustainability and a second definition, regarding the key enabling technologies for Industry 4.0. The values obtained put shipbuilding on the road to industry 4.0 while suggesting categorized planning of technologies

An agent-based dynamic information network for supply chain management

One of the main research issues in supply chain management is to improve the global efficiency of supply chains. However, the improvement efforts often fail because supply chains are complex, are subject to frequent changes, and collaboration and information sharing in the supply chains are often infeasible. This paper presents a practical collaboration framework for supply chain management wherein multi-agent systems form dynamic information networks and coordinate their production and order planning according to synchronized estimation of market demands. In the framework, agents employ an iterative relaxation contract net protocol to find the most desirable suppliers by using data envelopment analysis. Furthermore, the chain of buyers and suppliers, from the end markets to raw material suppliers, form dynamic information networks for synchronized planning. This paper presents an agent-based dynamic information network for supply chain management and discusses the associated pros and cons

AI and OR in management of operations: history and trends

The last decade has seen a considerable growth in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for operations management with the aim of finding solutions to problems that are increasing in complexity and scale. This paper begins by setting the context for the survey through a historical perspective of OR and AI. An extensive survey of applications of AI techniques for operations management, covering a total of over 1200 papers published from 1995 to 2004 is then presented. The survey utilizes Elsevier's ScienceDirect database as a source. Hence, the survey may not cover all the relevant journals but includes a sufficiently wide range of publications to make it representative of the research in the field. The papers are categorized into four areas of operations management: (a) design, (b) scheduling, (c) process planning and control and (d) quality, maintenance and fault diagnosis. Each of the four areas is categorized in terms of the AI techniques used: genetic algorithms, case-based reasoning, knowledge-based systems, fuzzy logic and hybrid techniques. The trends over the last decade are identified, discussed with respect to expected trends and directions for future work suggested

Strategic and Operational Management of Supplier Involvement in New Product Development: a Contingency Perspective

This paper examines how firms succeed to leverage supplier involvement in product development. The paper extends earlier work on managing supplier involvement by providing an integrated analysis of results, processes and conditions both at the level of individual development projects and the overall firm. Following a multiple-case study approach with theoretical sampling, the study is carried out by examining eight projects in which four manufacturers from different industries involve multiple suppliers. The findings suggest that successful supplier involvement is dependent on the coordinated design, execution and evaluation of strategic, long-term processes and operational, short-term management processes and the presence of enabling factors such as a cross-functional oriented organization. The required intensity of these processes and enablers depends on contingencies such as firm size and environmental uncertainty. In contrast with previous research, we find no indications that managing supplier involvement requires a different approach in highly innovative projects compared to less innovative projects.innovation;new product development;purchasing;supplier relations;R&D management

Customer empowerment in tourism through Consumer Centric Marketing (CCM)

We explain Consumer Centric Marketing (CCM) and adopt this new technique to travel context. Benefits and disadvantages of the CCM are outlined together with warnings of typical caveats Value: CCM will be expected as the norm in the travel industry by customers of the future, yet it is only the innovators who gain real tangible benefits from this development. We outline current and future opportunities to truly place your customer at the centre and provide the organisation with some real savings/gains through the use of ICT Practical Implications: We offer tangible examples for travel industry on how to utilise this new technology. The technology is already available and the ICT companies are keen to establish ways how consumers can utilise it, i.e. by providing ‘content’ for these ICT products the travel industry can fully gain from these developments and also enhance consumers’ gains from it. This can result in more satisfied customers for the travel (as well as ICT) companies thus truly adopting the basic philosophy of marketin

Supply chain decision making supported by an Open books policy

Based on a study of a buyer–seller relationship in the automotive industry, this article identifies 17 different decision-making processes where openly sharing cost data—a so-called open books policy—plays an important supporting role. These processes relate to supplier selection, various activities that occur prior to production, and the full-speed production stage of the exchange process. Overall, open books plays the greatest role in the pre-production stage, although it is found to support decision-making relating to supplier selection and decision-making during full-speed production to a greater extent than the literature recognizes