Real-time information for disruption management in intermodal freight transport

This thesis focuses on the recovery phase after operational disruptions in intermodal freight transport, which is a vital aspect of mitigating impacts such as late deliveries and thus achieving high operational efficiency. Intermodal freight transport is influenced by the ongoing development of information and communication technologies. Real-time information from these technologies has been shown useful for managing disruptions at the operational level. Previous research on intermodal freight transport has focused on the effects of actions enabled by real-time information, which has generated a lack of understanding the importance of real-time information concerning the process that result in these actions, such as using real-time information to manage operational disruptions. In this thesis, the process of managing disruptions in the recovery phase by using real-time information to detect a disruption, predict its impacts and take suitable action is termed disruption management. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the importance of real-time information for disruption management in intermodal freight transport. \ua0This thesis draws from a compilation of five studies conducted to examine various aspects of real-time information used during the recovery phase in different intermodal freight transport settings. The studies involved applying various methods used in qualitative case studies, such as interviews, observations, and a focus group, as well as a quantitative study involving discrete event simulation. The main results are as follows. First, the results identified how real-time information supports the phases of disruption management (i.e., detection, prediction and action) depending on different factors of real-time information. Second, connections between operational coordination regarding information and buffers are discussed in terms of how they influence the real-time information used for disruption management. Last, an investigation of the efficiency effects was made with different scenarios for real-time information regarding prediction of impact. Through these results, the thesis provides insights into the importance of real-time information for disruption management and theoretical contributions to intermodal freight transport by conceptualising the role of real-time information for disruption management at the operational level and its effects. The detailed descriptions of real-time information for recovery provides practical contributions for transport managers to understand and evaluate their processes at the recovery phase

Towards increasing robustness in global production networks by means of an integrated disruption management

Manufacturing companies operating in global production networks face rising complexities and increasing susceptibilities to disruptions. For coping with disruptions, companies are in need of a holistic, comprehensive disruption management, involving all network actors to find optimal measures. However, today’s disruption management approaches are characterized by intuitive, experienced-based reactions, limiting themselves to solely the production or the logistics perspective and hence not permitting an overarching reaction. Therefore, this paper presents an integrated approach to disruption management, combining the production and logistics perspectives. It incorporates DoE and metamodelling methods in a simulation model to enable efficient, robust decision-making in highly complex environments

Supply chain resilience and risk management strategies and methods

Abstract. The changing global market due to Industry 4.0 and the recent pandemic effect has created a need for more responsiveness in an organization’s supply chain. Supply chain resilience offers the firm not only to avoid disruptions but also to withstand the losses due to a disruption. The objective of this research is to find out how resilience is defined so far in other literature and find out the strategies available to gain the resilience fit for an organization. First, in the literature review, the previous studies on resilience were studied to understand what supply chain resilience means. Then, the key results and findings are discussed and conclusions are presented. The research found some interesting strategies for gaining the resilience fit. The benefits and the stakeholders for each strategy are also pointed out. These strategies can be used according to the organization’s business strategy. These strategies aligned with the business strategy can make a huge difference to withstand potential disruption and gaining a competitive advantage against the market competitors

Supply chain resilience strategies: the case of pharmaceutical firms in Morocco

The current environment is featured by disruptions such as fluctuations in demand, risks of relations with suppliers,…. Accordingly, the company needs resilience to alleviate these risks and continue operating its activities through main strategies that are underlined broadly by recent researches such as flexibility, redundancy and agility. This research aims to minimize the dearth of empirical researches in the realm of supply chain resilience strategies by investigating empirically the proactive and reactive strategies that improve resilience in pharmaceutical firms. In this research, the supply chain resilience strategies are basically related to. An empirical study was conducted in 33 the pharmaceutical firms. Afterwards, the response rates of participants were calculated for each of the supply chain resilience strategies (in “very great extent”). Accordingly, the results demonstrated that most of the strategies related to supply flexibility, demand flexibility, redundancy and the supply chain risk management process are applied very frequently. However, the strategies formulating the production flexibility are applied frequently (very extent) but not very intensively (not in “very great extent”). On the other side, these strategies aim to achieve resilience through proactive or reactive ability. Then, the analysis of results demonstrates that a large part of supply chain resilience strategies used by pharmaceutical firms are proactive and appertain to all elements of supply chain resilience (supply flexibility, demand flexibility, ….)

Data Analytics as an Enabler to Strengthen Supply Chain Resilience

This thesis examines the role of data analytics in building supply chain resilience. The aim of the study is to investigate how companies can use data analytics to identify potential supply chain disruptions, mitigate risks, and improve supply chain performance. To achieve this aim, case studies of a companies that has successfully implemented data analytics in its supply chain operations was conducted. The case study analytics included an examination of the specific tools and techniques used, the data sources and types of data analysed, and the insights gained from the analytics. The study also explored the challenges faced during the implementation of data analytics and analysed the effectiveness of these analytics in building supply chain resilience. Case firms were selected based on business and product type. This study includes companies with electronic product and component supply chains. Interviewees were selected based on their data-driving experience and supply chain operations exposure. Seven supply chain specialists from six case firms were interviewed semi-structured. The results show that data analytics provide valuable insights for supply chain management and help companies to proactively identify and mitigate risks. The study also highlights the importance of data quality, data integration, and the need for new skills and capabilities in implementing data analytics in the supply chain. The findings of 4 the study have practical implications for supply chain managers and provide a basis for future research in this area. Overall, the thesis contributes to the growing body of literature on the role of data analytics in building supply chain resilience and provides insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing these analytics in practice

Transportation Risk Management Approach in a food company: A Business Continuity Plan

Transportation is an essential aspect to fast-moving consumer goods supply chains. The risks associated with transport operations are of great concern when trying to ensure business continuity of a company. The dissertation is based on the Distribution & Export Business Unit at Kraft Heinz inter-national, which ships to over 25 countries in Eastern Europe, and also to the US and Israel. The complex logistics system that goes into planning transportation for so many countries makes it so that risks within transportation are highly present. The main identified issue at the case study organization was the lack of a structured approach towards transportation risk manage-ment. Most of the contingency measures applied by the company to act on these risks are of a reactive nature instead of proactive. The goal of this research is to create such structured approach towards risk management. To achieve this goal, transportation risks were mapped within the company through semi-structured interviews with employees working in supply chain operations. Additionally, current literature was analyzed and later compared with the interview findings to learn possible strategies and solutions to manage transportation risks. Finally, the gathered knowledge was used to propose a Business Continuity Plan based, which provides insights on how to assess and prepare for current and future transportation risks. The main findings and proposed guidelines for transportation risk management relied on shifting the company's work culture from cost to consumer oriented, increasing communi-cation flows throughout the supply chain with help of cross-functional integration and stand-ardizing the way the case study organization identifies, evaluates, and acts upon transportation risks, as well as actions that can be integrated into supply chain operations, such as assessing risk key performance indicators, determining ownership of tasks and spreading awareness of transportation risks throughout the supply chain.Os transportes são um aspeto essencial nas cadeias de abastecimento de bens de consumo rápido. Os riscos associados às suas operações são de grande preocupação para as empresas que querem garantir continuidade de negócio. O estudo baseia-se na Distribution & Export Business Unit da Kraft Heinz International, que exporta para mais de 25 países na Europa Oriental, e também Estados Unidos e Israel. A complexidade da logística envolvida em exportar para tantos países diferentes leva a que a sua cadeia de abastecimento esteja altamente exposta a riscos de transporte. O principal problema identificado na empresa estudo de caso foi de não terem uma abordagem estruturada para gerir os riscos no transporte dos produtos. A maioria das medidas realizadas pela empresa, para atenuar esses riscos, têm sido de natureza reativa em vez de proativa. O objetivo deste estudo é a criação de um plano estruturado para gestão de riscos, de modo a melhorar a preparação da empresa relativamente a riscos de transporte. Com este objetivo, foram analisados os riscos de transporte da empresa estudo de caso através de entrevistas semiestruturadas com funcionários que trabalham nas operações da cadeia de abastecimento da empresa. Adicionalmente, foi analisada a literatura existente para ser posteriormente comparada com os resultados das entrevistas e concluir possíveis estratégias e soluções para a gestão de riscos. Os resultados foram utilizados para propor um Business Continuity Plan , que revela como a empresa se deve preparar para atuais e futuros riscos. As principais conclusões e diretrizes propostas para a gestão de risco, referem a necessidade de alterar a cultura da empresa de um foco em custos para um foco no cliente, melhorar as redes de comunicação em toda a cadeia de abastecimento com ajuda de uma equipa multifuncional ou equipa multidepartamental e standardizar a maneira como a empresa identifica, avalia, e age sobre possíveis riscos de transporte, bem como ações que podem ser integradas nas operações da cadeia de abastecimento, como a avaliação através de key performance indicators para riscos, definir responsabilidades e espalhar conhecimento sobre riscos de transportação por toda a cadeia de abastecimentos

Supply chain risk management: capabilities and performance

Growing environmental turbulence and increasingly complex supply chain networks have resulted in greater supply chain disruptions. Firm supply chain risk management performance varies due to differences in recognition of the need for and ability to cultivate supply chain risk management capabilities. This study helps to identify which capabilities have the greatest effect in supply chain risk management and firm performance as well as describes how to achieve them. A meta-analysis of empirical supply chain risk management studies reveals the confounding state of the field and points toward future work which can provide consensus and progress. A multiple case study describes organizational learning from supply chain disruption and identifies a new construct of bracketing necessary to deviate from firm risk dominant logic and respond to changes in the environment

Supply chain information visibility and its impact on decision-making : an integrated model in the pharmaceutical industry : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand

Supply chain information visibility (SCIV) has been largely recognized as a key issue in pharmaceutical supply chain management. In recent years, there has been growing concern regarding the exponential growth and ubiquity of supply chain information as the result of the application of advanced technologies. Thus, the topic of visibility of information flow across a supply chain has attracted interest in both practice and academia. Despite the existence of considerable literature on SCIV, the concept is still under-theorized. The lack of a clear understanding of the characteristics of SCIV has made it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of SCIV and, consequently, hinders the improvement of SCIV (McIntire, 2014). Second, recent research identifies the potential of SCIV for operational performance through supporting managerial decision-making but also points out challenges and risks. In addition, there is a dearth of behavioral empirical research on supply chain management topics with which to achieve an increase in theory-building research in the field. This research addresses these gaps in the literature and investigates how SCIV across the pharmaceutical supply chain is perceived by pharmaceutical supply chain practitioners who are involved in supply chain decision-making, and how the decision-makers make use of SCIV in their supply chain decision-making process. This study adopted an exploratory, and qualitative approach to address two research questions: “How do supply chain professionals perceive SCIV in the pharmaceutical supply chain?” and “How do supply chain professionals make informed supply chain decisions?” The constructivist grounded theory methodology was used to guide the data gathering and analysis. The data were mainly drawn from semi-structured interviews with supply chain practitioners in New Zealand-based pharmaceutical firms, working at different levels of the supply chain, including manufacturers and distributors. Based on the findings a theoretical model was developed, the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Information-based Decision-Making Model. The model explains the behavioral supply chain decision-making process in the pharmaceutical supply chain, based on the existence of a given level of SCIV. The empirical findings suggest that SCIV is achieved both within and outside of the pharmaceutical firms and that human relational factors tend to be more beneficial than technological factors in developing SCIV. The importance of this finding is that it addresses a frequently asked question in recent literature about what constitutes SCIV and how to successfully build information visibility in a supply chain. Moreover, this research contributes to the behavioural supply chain management research literature by introducing a theoretical model of pharmaceutical supply chain information-based decision-making, which is grounded in the field data. The model offers significant theoretical insight into information-based decision-making in the pharmaceutical supply chain context based on empirical data, which has been largely overlooked in the supply chain management discipline. The empirical findings suggest that supply chain practitioners make information-based decisions in which they conduct an informative engaging mechanism with technological tools, with relevant stakeholders, and with themselves. Thus, the decision-making process involves extensive data analysis along with the crucial support of experience-based intuition and relevant stakeholders’ engagement. Another key contribution of this study is the identification of the constructive aspect of political behaviour in the supply chain decision-making process in which relevant stakeholders when invited to engage in the process tend to positively contribute and buy into the decision. Finally, this thesis provides significant practical implications and suggest directions for future research. Supply chain practitioners may benefit from the study by utilizing the study’s results to develop supply chain information visibility in their firms. In addition, the theoretical model of the information-based decision-making process explicates a useful step-by-step approach for supply chain practitioners to follow in making effective supply chain operational decisions. Recommendations for further research are provided, especially the recommendations for further studies that are crucially needed to assist firms to counter the pharmaceutical supply chain disruption risks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic

Managing cyber and information risks in supply chains: insights from an exploratory analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how companies approach the management of cyber and information risks in their supply chain, what initiatives they adopt to this aim, and to what extent along the supply chain. In fact, the increasing level of connectivity is transforming supply chains, and it creates new opportunities but also new risks in the cyber space. Hence, cyber supply chain risk management (CSCRM) is emerging as a new management construct. The ultimate aim is to help organizations in understanding and improving the CSCRM process and cyber resilience in their supply chains.Design/methodology/approachThis research relied on a qualitative approach based on a comparative case study analysis involving five large multinational companies with headquarters, or branches, in the UK.FindingsResults highlight the importance for CSCRM to shift the viewpoint from the traditional focus on companies’ internal information technology (IT) infrastructure, able to “firewall themselves” only, to the whole supply chain with a cross-functional approach; initiatives for CSCRM are mainly adopted to “respond” and “recover” without a well-rounded approach to supply chain resilience for a long-term capacity to adapt to changes according to an evolutionary approach. Initiatives are adopted at a firm/dyadic level, and a network perspective is missing.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper extends the current theory on cyber and information risks in supply chains, as a combination of supply chain risk management and resilience, and information risk management. It provides an analysis and classification of cyber and information risks, sources of risks and initiatives to managing them according to a supply chain perspective, along with an investigation of their adoption across the supply chain. It also studies how the concept of resilience has been deployed in the CSCRM process by companies. By laying the first empirical foundations of the subject, this study stimulates further research on the challenges and drivers of initiatives and coordination mechanisms for CSCRM at a supply chain network level.Practical implicationsResults invite companies to break the “silos” of their activities in CSCRM, embracing the whole supply chain network for better resilience. The adoption of IT security initiatives should be combined with organisational ones and extended beyond the dyad. Where applicable, initiatives should be bi-directional to involve supply chain partners, remove the typical isolation in the CSCRM process and leverage the value of information. Decisions on investments in CSCRM should involve also supply chain managers according to a holistic approach.Originality/valueA supply chain perspective in the existing scientific contributions is missing in the management of cyber and information risk. This is one of the first empirical studies dealing with this interdisciplinary subject, focusing on risks that are now very high in the companies’ agenda, but still overlooked. It contributes to theory on information risk because it addresses cyber and information risks in massively connected supply chains through a holistic approach that includes technology, people and processes at an extended level that goes beyond the dyad

Global supply chain risk management strategies: A case study

Growing complexity of the global environment and the appearance of new risks in a supply chain increase the uncertainty of companies’ operations and the possibility for failure in performance. However, many companies nowadays are not well prepared to handle risks that may become an obstacle to their goals. As a result, company managers are searching for strategies to overcome difficulties. Supply chain risk management is one of the fastest growing fields of logistics research aimed to create innovative methods to risk mitigation and prevention, improve the financial performance and bring the competitive advantage. Thus, the purpose of this study is to provide explanation for significance of risk management integration in company operations and demonstrate how the choice of appropriate risk management strategy should be made in order to mitigate possible consequences and predict adverse events. The author built the theoretical framework for the SCRM system upon the literature overview for the company with international suppliers. It includes ten steps from risk identification and evaluation to the possibility of cooperation with partners in a supply chain for mutual efforts. The study is of qualitative type with in-depth analysis of a single case. The empirical data have been collected through 7 face-to-face semi-structured interviews with managers from the case companies and 11 questionnaires answered by managers from the supplier companies. The findings suggest that demand and operational risk types are the most important for the trading company operation and should be controlled primarily. Despite only few companies have established the full-size SCRM system, they are aware of risk consequences and implemented the range of strategies to mitigate risks and forecast their appearance in the future. The author contributed to the field by developing the list of SCRM strategies relevant to risk types they can handle.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format