An Agent-based Simulation of a QoS-oriented Supply Chain

With adaptive customer-orientation the efficiency of supply chain management is improved substantially. By the introduction of service quality-based decision-making into supply chain management the quality of service (QoS) within supply chains is expected to improve autonomously and continuously up- and downstream. In the paper the main characteristics of quality of service oriented supply chain management are outlined. The quality of service criterion, introduced into the adaptive supply chain model, provides market regulators and managements with the needed information and feedback to their increasingly informed decisions. By an experiment comprising several typical scenarios on our agent-based simulation model it was possible to empirically verify the expected impact of quality of service-based reasoning on generic adaptive supply chains.</p

An Agent-based Simulation of a QoS-oriented Supply Chain

With adaptive customer-orientation the efficiency of supply chain management is improved substantially. By the introduction of service quality-based decision-making into supply chain management the quality of service (QoS) within supply chains is expected to improve autonomously and continuously up- and downstream. In the paper the main characteristics of quality of service oriented supply chain management are outlined. The quality of service criterion, introduced into the adaptive supply chain model, provides market regulators and managements with the needed information and feedback to their increasingly informed decisions. By an experiment comprising several typical scenarios on our agent-based simulation model it was possible to empirically verify the expected impact of quality of service-based reasoning on generic adaptive supply chains.</p

Development of Cost Analysis Process based on the Supply Chain Strategy

Abstract— This paper discusses the methodology of research and development costs analysis through the supply chain management. Peculiarities of costs formation at early stages of development life cycle are defined, aims and tasks of analysis, method of cost budget analysis in terms of responsibility centers, individual projects and cost items are disclosed. The supply chain management discipline suggests that information sharing is paramount when attempting to achieve cost reductions and quality improvements. Factors have been identified and impact of such factors on costs assessed. Special attention is devoted to the ratio between costs and results and to the ratio between costs and work duration. The analysis of plan and fact costs of separate projects is carried out in supply chain process and by examples of projects creation is considered. Besides that, the algorithm of average costs estimation through the determination of dependence between costs and work duration are presented by formula. The research identifies a theoretical model that can be used to explain the relationships and themes associated with supply chain costing and strategic decision making. Evidence suggests that there is some movement to implement managerial accounting techniques within these two industries to capture supply chain costing information. The results of this study allow to make decisions by supply chain managers for increasing of research and development work efficiency and for cost reduction

Effective use of product quality information in food supply chain logistics

Food supply chains have inherent characteristics, such as variability in product quality and quality decay, which put specific demands on logistics decision making. Furthermore, food supply chain organization and control has changed significantly in the past decades by factors such as scale intensification and globalization. In practice, these characteristics and developments frequently lead to supply chain problems, such as high levels of product waste, product quality problems, and high logistics costs. Recent technological developments have created the opportunity to gather, process, and communicate more information on the status of processes and products to support logistics decision making, providing business opportunities to realize performance improvements, and add extra value by differentiating products to specific market segments. This will, however, require the development of effective logistics management strategies that ensure the supply of products of appropriate quality in a cost-effective way to each stage of the supply chain. This thesis studies the use of product quality information in logistics decision making in food supply chains, captured in the following central research question: How can the effectiveness of logistics decision making in food supply chains be improved using advanced product quality information? This research question is investigated using four case studies: two in the context of the European Q-porkchains project (i.e. in pork supply chains), and two in the context of the European Veg-i-Trade project (i.e. in fruit- and vegetable supply chains). In these cases we investigated the impact of variability in product quality and quality decay on chain processes and studied if use of product quality information can improve logistics decision making regarding product sourcing and process design. In each case decision support models were developed – in close cooperation with industrial partners - to quantify the impact. Case study 1: Process design for advanced sorting of meat products The first case study, presented in chapter 2, considers the process design of a meat processing company that seeks to add value by sorting meat products for a specific product quality feature. The relation between product sorting, processing efficiency and process design is investigated using a discrete event simulation model. Results indicate that increasing sorting complexity by use of advanced product quality information results in a reduction of processing efficiency, whereas use of production buffers was found to mitigate negative effects of high sorting complexity. The simulation allows practitioners facing segmented customer demand to assess which scenario offers the best trade-off between benefits and drawbacks resulting from efforts to improve responsiveness and flexibility. Case study 2: Livestock sourcing decisions The second case study considers a meat processing company that faces quality feature variation in animals delivered to its slaughterhouses. To support sourcing decisions and ensure that the right product quality is received at its slaughterhouses two stochastic programming models are developed that exploit product quality data gathered during earlier deliveries. The presented implementations reveal that uncertainty in supplied product quality can be reduced using historical farmer delivery data, which improves processing performance. Case study 3: Product sourcing in international strawberry supply chains The third case study relates to an international strawberry distributor that faces frequent product quality problems and substantial product waste. Different sourcing strategies were tested using a combination of both a slow, but cheap transport mode (i.e. sea and truck), and a faster, but more expensive mode (i.e. plane). The performance of these sourcing strategies is examined using a discrete-continuous chain simulation that includes microbiological growth models to predict quality decay. Simulation results reveal that standard cost parameters (that do not take quality decay into account) result in substantial product waste, but if cost for expected shelf-life losses are included in the order policies the effectiveness of product sourcing for the considered supply chain is improved. Case study 4: Use of form postponement for food waste reduction The fourth case study concerns an international lettuce supply chain that struggles with effective product sourcing. Form postponement (FP) is a supply chain strategy which delays processing steps until a demand is realized. This allows a reduction of the total inventory in the supply chain. We studied supply chain scenarios that differ in where and when in the supply chain whole crop lettuce is converted into processed lettuce products. A discrete-continuous chain simulation model revealed that application of FP reduced both product waste and age and improves point-of-sale product quality. Integrated findings The findings of this thesis demonstrate that decision makers can improve logistics decisions and reduce food waste by using product quality information and predicting changes in product quality. The developed quantitative decision support models provided essential insights into trade-offs resulting from information-based supply chain performance improvement strategies. The presented case studies demonstrate that supply chain flexibility and responsiveness is required to reduce the impact of product variability and product quality decay. Increasing responsiveness and flexibility typically comes at the expense of other performance dimensions. This research demonstrates the potential of use of product quality information in food supply chain logistics, which may contribute to the effectiveness of food supply chains by improving consumer satisfaction, reducing overall costs, and reducing food waste.</p

Directions of Digital Technologies Development in the Supply Chain Management of the Russian Economy

Abstract— The main objective of this paper is to investigate the digitalization and technologies impact on supply chain management of agricultural industry.  This paper provides practical examples of supply chain digitalization, as well as its socio-economic and environmental effects. The absence of processes that are compatible with the high production requirements adopted in foreign markets can lead to crisis phenomena in domestic industries with high potential and rapid growth dynamics in agriculture industry. Agriculture in Russia is an integral part of the agro-industrial complex, and the program “Digitalization of its supply chain” should provide participants with the opportunity to use broadband, mobile, LPWAN communications, information technologies (small and big data, management platforms, etc.) of the domestic instrument industry (tags, controllers, sensors, control units) to improve significantly the efficiency of agriculture. The opportunities for modernizing the industry are huge. Food security of the country and the development of export potential, turn agriculture into a high-tech industry that can not only provide food for itself, but also many countries of the world through the global supply chain system, as well as create opportunities for the introduction of new innovative developments that have not exist before, stimulate management decisions that can provide the population with high-quality and safe products. According to expert estimates, during the season, the farmer has to make more than 40 different decisions in limited time intervals. Many of these solutions, which affect directly the production economy, are objects of digitalization in supply chain

Developing an Integrated Supply Chain Costing Approach for Strategic Decision Making

The supply chain management discipline suggests that information sharing is paramount when attempting to achieve cost reductions and quality improvements. In many cases, the traditional accounting data used to support strategic decisions reflect inaccurate supply chain costs. This research explores the applications of managerial costing techniques, and how they can be used to improve the decision making capabilities of firms in the aerospace and transportation industries. The methodology used to address the research questions consisted of a hybrid of the grounded theory and multiple-case study methods. The objective of this research was to present the antecedents and barriers associated with implementing supply chain costing, and the impact that costing approaches have on strategic decision making. The research identifies a theoretical model that can be used to explain the relationships and themes associated with supply chain costing and strategic decision making. Evidence suggests that there is some movement to implement managerial accounting techniques within these two industries to capture supply chain costing information. However, the reliance on traditional financial accounting suggests that the overarching principles of supply chain management and information sharing amongst of partner firms has yet to be realized

How Does Suppliers’ Fairness Affect the Relationship Quality of Agricultural Product Supply Chains?

Although many studies have suggested that the relationship between different supply chain members significantly affects agricultural product quality, suppliers’ perceptions of fairness, which greatly influence their decisions on building the relationship quality, are often overlooked. Particularly, the empirical evidence to investigate the impacts of suppliers’ fairness on the relationship quality and the factors that affect the suppliers’ fairness is missing, and therefore this knowledge gap needs to be filled by new research. Herein, we conducted a survey of 450 agricultural product suppliers and systemically analyzed the impact of antecedents on fairness perception and the impact of fairness perception on relationship quality. In addition, we developed a structural equation model and found that information sharing and price satisfaction had significantly positive effects on procedural fairness and distributive fairness, respectively. Furthermore, our studies demonstrated that procedural fairness is more important in improving the relationship quality than distributive fairness. However, supplier dependence is another important impact factor, and it greatly decreases the positive effects of suppliers’ fairness on relationship quality. In summary, the study results provide several managerial implications and extend our understanding of the importance of suppliers’ fairness in the relationship quality, which involves product development with respect to the supplier’s performance

Internet of Things and Modern Supply Chain Management

Information flow has a great influence over the flow of materials in the supply chain industry. The behavior by which the materials flow is highly affected by how the information flows throughout the organization in a smooth manner. To develop the supply chain performance and improve the efficiency of information sharing a lot of practices have been developed to achieve that target. However nowadays with the expansion of companies and having complicated structures of communication, ordinary practices cannot suffice any longer. Additionally, a lot of time is not utilized properly wasting a lot of time and lowering the efficiency of the organization. This research aim is to investigate the development of the internet of things and how when properly utilized it can make a huge impact on modern supply chain management. This research aim is to provide a theoretical basis on how companies can use internet of things to allow easier access for information throughout the organization with minimal effort. The research questions to be addressed in this research are (1), What is the impact of the internet of things on modern supply chain management (2) what are the possible improvements and future work that can be done with regards to the internet of things (3) is it easy to use. An application of internet of things in the supply chain management is developed based on literature findings. The applications aim is to take place to match between execution flexibility and information abundance. Information sharing aimed should be providing high quality information for the higher ups and management before making crucial and swift decisions. To improve the flexibility of the operations and improve the pace within the working environment information must be gathered in a swift manner. It was determined that there are several reasons behind the turbulent flow between materials flow and information flow. Numerous plan changes in response to demand changes, varying planning processes which would subsequently cause problems when designing a supply chain model to organize the information flow. Moreover, it was also found that another reason was insufficient data which resulted in the inability of sharing information between various departments

MEASURING THE RESILIENCY OF HYBRID PROJECTS AGAINST SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTIONS

The construction industry has unique supply chain relationships given the fact it is project based. As a result, the collaboration in supply chain relationships face a variety of problems that affect one or more of the project objectives: time, cost, quality, scope, or safety. Many uncertainties exist in the prefabrication supply chain as a result of which the on-site activities have to stop and wait. These uncertainties are the basis for many failures and misunderstandings that occur during construction, resulting in high failure costs due to rework and time delay. It is a challenge for the risk managers to ascertain the potential uncertainties and manage the operational disruption risk in the prefabrication supply chain of a construction project. Therefore, risk managers may employ countermeasures that leave their project or company exposed to significant risks. The goal of this research study is to examine the resiliency of hybrid projects against supply chain disruption by investigating the disruption risk exposure inherited from uncertainties in the prefabrication supply chain. A model capable of evaluating and measuring the impact of a disruption originating anywhere in the supply chain was developed and implemented to test its usability in front-end planning of hybrid construction projects. The test demonstrated that the application of this model exposed significant uncertainties found in the prefabrication process, and that the model provided valuable information to risk managers on the operational disruption risk allowing them to make informed decisions and allocate resources more judiciously