The strategic integration of agile and lean supply

Lean supply is closely associated with enabling flow and the elimination of wasteful variation within the supply chain. However, lean operations depend on level scheduling and the growing need to accommodate variety and demand uncertainty has resulted in the emergence of the concept of agility. This paper explores the role of inventory and capacity in accommodating such variation and identifies how TRIZ separation principles and TOC tools may be combined in the integrated development of responsive and efficient supply chains. A detailed apparel industry case study is used to illustrate the application of these concepts and tools

Ubiquitous Computing – an Application Domain for Business Intelligence in the Cloud?

A number of IT providers have introduced web-based services for management support that are discussed under the label“Business Intelligence (BI) in the Cloud”. It has been argued that these Cloud products might become valuable complementsto on-premise enterprise BI infrastructures by allowing a flexible addition of sizeable components, tools or – in selected areas– complete solutions. In this publication, it is discussed in how far a Ubiquitous Computing setting based on technologies likeradio frequency identification (RFID) or sensor technology could become a relevant application domain for Cloud-BI”. Themain insights come from a literature review, a series of expert interviews on BI and Cloud Computing, and a case on spareparts logistics. The results indicate that the addressed domain indeed comes with business potential and highlight the need forfurther design oriented research

A decision-making approach for investigating the potential effects of near sourcing on supply chain

Purpose - Near sourcing is starting to be regarded as a valid alternative to global sourcing in order to leverage supply chain (SC) responsiveness and economic efficiency. The present work proposes a decision-making approach developed in collaboration with a leading Italian retailer that was willing to turn the global store furniture procurement process into near sourcing. Design/methodology/approach - Action research is employed. The limitations of the traditional SC organisation and purchasing process of the company are first identified. On such basis, an inventory management model is applied to run spreadsheet estimates where different purchasing and SC management strategies are adopted to determine the solution providing the lowest cost performance. Finally, a risk analysis of the selected best SC arrangement is conducted and results are discussed. Findings - Switching from East Asian suppliers to continental vendors enables a SC reengineering that increases flexibility and responsiveness to demand uncertainty which, together with decreased transportation costs, assures economic viability, thus proving the benefits of near sourcing. Research limitations/implications - The decision-making framework provides a methodological roadmap to address the comparison between near and global sourcing policies and to calculate the savings of the former against the latter. The approach could include additional organisational aspects and cost categories impacting on near sourcing and could be adapted to investigate different products, services, and business sectors. Originality/value - The work provides SC researchers and practitioners with a structured approach for understanding what drives companies to adopt near sourcing and for quantitatively assessing its advantage

Optimization of sales in fashion retail by warehouse integration in multichannels

Issue of study: The thesis studies the optimization of sales in fashion retail by integrating multichannels. The multichannel integration relates to reallocation of articles between brick and mortar store warehouses and online warehouses. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to investigate how increased multichannel integration, in terms of reallocating articles between online store warehouses and brick and mortar store warehouses, affect sales for retailers within the fashion industry. The thesis investigates the potential in increasing the sales by increasing the availability online and by decreasing the share of reductions in price, by reallocating articles to the most suitable channel. Method: The research was conducted as an embedded single case study with one subunit studying the effects of increasing availability online and the other subunit studying the effects of decreasing price reductions. Data was gathered from four main sources: archival records, documentation, interviews, and observations. The analysis was performed by estimating sales figures if the reallocations had not been performed and compare it to the sales figures after the reallocations. Conclusions: By reallocating articles to the online warehouse, the sales on the reallocated articles increased on average by 67 percent, and had the potential of contributing to an overall increase of 1.2 percent. The sales potential can be further increased by a larger share of the additional store stock a larger share of comparable articles between the channels. The reallocation with the purpose of reducing price reductions contributed to a decrease of 19 percent of the reallocated articles, and an overall decrease in the total price reductions in the online store by 0.4 percent. Reallocating articles between channels with the purpose of reducing price reductions is considered to be less risky in terms of the likelihood of sending the wrong article, than the reallocation purpose of increasing sales, which can be explained by the impact of the short life cycles of the articles in fashion retail and thus the impact of timing

Exploring the use of the Cynefin Framework to inform software development approach decisions

Choosing an appropriate software development process is a complex and challenging task, exacerbated by the fact that all process models require a certain amount of tailoring to fit to the business environment of any specific organization in which the model is to be deployed. This position paper proposes that one of the potentially most significant factors impacting how a team should structure their software development process is domain (contexts defined by the nature of the relationship between cause and effect) the team is in, an approach pioneered by Snowden with The Cynefin Framework. Cynefin (pronounced Ku-nev-in) is a decision framework that recognizes the causal differences that exist between different types of systems and proposes new approaches to decision making in complex social environments and new mechanisms of understanding levels of complexity as decisions are made. It is argued that using the Cynefin framework for classifying important software process selection decisions assists in choosing the right process for the given situational context. This position paper provides an overview of systems thinking and the Cynefin framework that organizations can use to detect the significant characteristics of the domain in which they operate which has a direct and significant affect on the software process approach (model / methodology) chosen

The effects of mismatched cultural dimensions on supply chain flexibility - a case study of TOMRA Collection Solutions

Confidential until 30. May 201

Identification of Critical Factors and Their Interrelationships to Design Agile Supply Chain : Special Focus to Oil and Gas Industries

Purpose – This research attempted to identify the most critical factors and their inter-relationships to ensure designing agile supply chain, especially in oil and gas industry. This factors identification process is performed through developing a conceptual framework and the use of Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) tool. Design/methodology/approach – This study is conducted through an extensive literature review and questionnaires survey to identify and refine the critical factors that ensure the agile supply chain in oil and gas industry. In addition, several brainstorming sessions with the experts in the field of oil and gas industries were organized with the objective to interpret the contextual inter-relationships between the identified factors. The outcomes from the literature reviews, interview questions and experts’ opinions were used to develop a diagraph and MICMAC analysis to know the drivers of agility in supply chain. Findings –From this study, 34 enablers and 12 factors were identified, which are responsible to ensure agile supply chain in oil and gas industry. Out of these identified factors, top management commitment, strategic alignment, competency of management and integration of information and systems technology are found to be the critical drivers of supply chain agility. On the other hand, government regulations, transportation and logistics flexibility and production planning and control falls under the category of dependent factors. Originality/value – The identified factors and their interrelationships can be a valuable aid to ensure and measure the agility in supply chain, especially in oil and gas industry. These identified factors and their defined consequences will help managers and concerned authorities in oil and gas industry to take better decision to improve the agility level of their supply chain.©2020 Springer Nature. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40171-020-00247-5fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed