The effect of supply chain noise on the financial performance of Kanban and Drum-Buffer-Rope: An agent-based perspective

Managing efficiently the flow of products throughout the supply chain is essential for succeeding in today's marketplace. We consider the Kanban (from Lean Management) and Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR, from the Theory of Constraints) scheduling mechanisms and evaluate their performance in a four-echelon supply chain operating within a large noise scenario. Through an agent-based system, which is presented as a powerful model-driven decision support system for managers, we show the less sensitivity against variability and the higher financial performance of the DBR mechanism, which occurs as this mechanism improves the supply chain robustness due to its bottleneck orientation. Nonetheless, we prove the existence of regions in the decision space where Kanban offers similar performance. This is especially relevant taking into account that Kanban can be implemented at a lower cost, as TOC requires a higher degree of information transparency and a solid contract between partners to align incentives. In this sense, we offer decision makers an approach to reach an agreement when the partners decide to move from Kanban to DBR in a bid to increase the overall net profit in supply chains operating in a challenging noise scenario

A relevância das estruturas organizacionais - case study: Intercontinental Lisbon

O presente relatório teve origem no estágio realizado no InterContinental Lisbon, na secção de eventos do departamento comercial, assumindo a posição de Instant Service Manager. A relação interdepartamental entre o departamento comercial e operacional suscitou a questão de partida ”Terá a estrutura organizacional de um hotel influência no sucesso dos eventos organizados?”, originando o principal objetivo do estudo: a análise da estrutura organizacional do InterContinental Lisbon para o sucesso dos eventos organizados. Os três conceitos chave para o desenrolar do estudo são: hotel, recursos humanos e eventos. Foi feita uma análise geral das empresas, a nível estrutural, aplicando a análise apenas às unidades hoteleiras, e por fim estreitando ainda mais este estudo através da apresentação da relação comercial-operacional do ICL. O objetivo principal é provar a importância da relação do setor comercial e do setor operacional do ICL para o sucesso dos eventos, propondo uma possível solução para eventuais barreiras que possam existir entre as duas áreas. Para a execução dos objetivos realizou-se uma pesquisa e seleção bibliográfica, de forma a compreender como se tem processado a evolução da divisão estrutural das organizações. Esta permitiu confirmar a evolução estrutural das empresas, desde focadas na produção, a concentradas na comunicação horizontal, entreajuda e num tipo de gestão menos rígido. Após a fase de leitura, adotou-se uma abordagem prática ao tema, através da observação participante durante o período de estágio no ICL e através de entrevistas exploratórias aos colaboradores dos eventos da unidade. Esta abordagem, observação participante e entrevistas, revelou a importância da organização estrutural do ICL, principalmente na relação existente entre o comercial e o operacional, para o sucesso dos eventos. Todos os entrevistados confirmaram a importância da comunicação anteriormente mencionada para o sucesso dos eventos. Estes assumiram ainda a possibilidade da implementação da função Instant Service Manager, como ajuda na ligação entre a secção comercial e operacional, principalmente para o acompanhamento dos grupos durante o evento. A organização estrutural de qualquer empresa está sujeita a constantes mudanças e melhorias, de forma a rentabilizar os recursos humanos para o cumprimento dos objetivos propostos.The present report is a follow-up to the internship held at InterContinental Lisbon, concretely in the events section of the commercial department, assuming the position of Instant Service Manager. This interdepartmental relation raised the question “Does the organizational structure of a hotel influence the organized events?”, that is directly related to the main study objective, which is the analysis of the InterContinental Lisbon's organizational structure for the success of the organized events, particularly the relationship between the commercial and operational sectors. The three key concepts for the study's development are: hotel, human resources and events. A general analysis of the companies was carried out, at a structural level, applying the analysis only to the hotel units, and finally narrowing this study further by presenting the commercial-operational relationship of the ICL. The main goal is to prove the importance of the relationship of the commercial and operational departments of the ICL to the success of the events, proposing a solution for possible barriers that may exist between the two areas. For the accomplishment of the objectives, a research and bibliographic selection was made, in order to understand how the evolution of the structural division of the organizations has been processed. This allowed to confirm the structural evolution of the companies, from production focused on to horizontal communication, mutual aid and a less rigid type of management. After the reading phase, a practical approach to the subject was adopted, through participant observation during the internship period at the ICL, and through interviews with the collaborators of the unit's events. This approach, through participant observation and interviews, revealed the importance of the structural organization of the ICL, mainly in the relation between the commercial and the operational departments, for the success of the events. All interviewees confirmed the importance of the above-mentioned communication for the success of the events. These also assumed the possibility of implementing the Instant Service Manager function, as an aid in the connection between the commercial and operational sections, mainly for the monitoring of the groups during the event. The structural organization of any company is subject to constant changes and improvements, so as to make the human resources profitable in order to achieve the proposed objectives