The Value Aspect of Reallocating Seafood Freight from Road to Sea Transport

A case study elaborates on the project organization promoting change of transport mode in a food chain from a value perspective. This project organization may perspectively be viewed as a supply chain with value conceptions different from the everyday seafood supply chain it is meant to develop. Value is in this project context revealed as an intersubjective complex phenomenon, founded in that value conceptions by actors located at different locations in the supply chain. This renders customer value as one of many dynamic value components in this project organization. Value embedded in a supply chain is therefore always a source of uncertainty, a subjective perspective; it cannot be considered as a clear functional purpose in projects aimed at developing food supply. The route to reallocate seafood freight should therefore focus on organizing interconnectivity to support networking and the project members accepting that the project outcome is emergent

A Paradigm Shift: Supply Chain Collaboration and Competition in and between Europe’s Chemical Clusters

With the attention of the chemical industry focused on exploiting the low cost feedstocks in the Middle East and the growth markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South East Asia, this report provides a timely reminder to policy makers, chemical companies and logistics service providers of the significant opportunities for improving business potential in Europe’s chemical clusters. Europe is still the largest, most sophisticated global market for chemical products, with a well developed, efficient, highly productive asset base, sound infrastructure, leading edge research and development and significant purchasing power. Provided these advantages are sustained, including continued attention to asset maintenance and operational and supply chain improvements, Europe can remain a competitive force in the global market place, despite what the doom-mongers may say to the contrary. ..

Hyperconnected fulfillment and inventory allocation and deployment models

Consumption patterns have been changed dramatically over the past decades, notably by the growth of e-commerce. With the prevalence of e-commerce and home delivery, customer expectations for a faster, punctual, and cheap delivery are increasing. In fact, many customers are expecting for same-day or x-hour deliveries now and offering fast delivery becomes more and more critical for e-retailers to survive in a fierce market competition. However, many companies are simply lacking financial, physical, and/or operational resources to increase their responsiveness. Focusing on solving the challenges in the perspective of fulfillment and inventory, we aim to find a breakthrough from a recently emerging logistics innovation movement induced by the introduction of the Physical Internet (PI). PI can potentially enable responsive yet affordable fulfillment for companies of any size through open asset utilization and multi-player operations. The key of PI innovation is transforming asset-driven logistics operations to service-driven logistics operations. This thesis provides an academic foundation for hyperconnected fulfillment to effectively satisfy the growing customer expectations on responsive deliveries. We first present a comprehensive design and evaluation of a hyperconnected fulfillment system. Then, we focus on providing inventory operations models, inventory allocation and deployment respectively, which maximally utilize the key features of hyperconnected fulfillment system: connectivity, flexibility, and decentralization. In Chapter 2, a hyperconnected fulfillment and delivery system is designed in the context of the last-mile operations in urban areas. A comprehensive system and decision architecture of the hyperconnected system is modeled. We carefully design the scenarios to show a gradual transformation from dedicated to hyperconnected system in each thread of delivery and fulfillment so as to reveal the marginal impact of each step of transformation. We conduct a scenario analysis using a simulation platform built upon the system and decision architecture where autonomous agents are optimizing their decisions and interact with the environment. The experimental results clearly demonstrate the potential benefit of hyperconnected urban fulfillment and delivery system by concurrently improving often opposing performance criteria: economic efficiency, service capability and sustainability. Chapter 3 tackles an optimal inventory allocation problem among multiple sales outlets. Specifically, we analyze a case where a dropshipper allocates availability to multiple e-retailers via availability promising e-contracts (APCs). Under the APC, the e-retailers do not observe actual availability and this information asymmetry leads them to pose a promised availability threshold (PAT). PAT is a threshold on remaining promised availability set by an e-retailer for a product of a dropshipper, below which the e-retailer unlists the product and thus does not accept any more orders from customers, until the promised availability is climbed above the threshold by the dropshipper. The dropshipper's APC problem with PAT is modeled as 2-stage stochastic program with two stochastic parameters: demand and PAT. We design and evaluate three contract policies differentiated by the allowance level for overpromising: guaranteed fulfillment, controlled fillrate, and penalty-driven fillrate policies. We also present a modeling approach to convert the endogenous demands, per-retailer-distribution of which is affected by the APCs, to exogenous demands with linear substitution constraints. The numerical results show the penalty-driven fillrate policy is the dominating strategy for dropshippers especially under a lean availability. Chapter 4 tackles an inventory deployment problem under the context of open asset utilization and responsive fulfillment. When it comes to very responsive deliveries, such as X-hour deliveries, the physical availability of inventories near the delivery locations becomes necessary, which requires a broad and dense fulfillment network. The open asset utilization and service-driven fulfillment operations of the PI can enable affordable access to such decentralized fulfillment network comprised of the open fulfillment centers. We evaluate the benefit of such decentralized fulfillment network for a responsive fulfillment and develop an appropriate inventory deployment model, which possesses a partially pooled demand and inventory structure induced by responsiveness requirements, as a variant of Newsvendor. We derive a pragmatic heuristic inventory solution, W-solution, and present an efficient binary search based solution heuristic, W-heuristic. Then, via numerical experiments over both theoretical and empirical demand distributions, we demonstrate the advantage of decentralized network and w-solution over centralized network and allocation-based inventory model, pre-allocation model, respectively. We also report rather counter-intuitive observations that the w-solution which accounts for pooling leads to more inventory than pre-allocation model which does not account for pooling under low sales margin.Ph.D

Centralised versus decentralised manufacturing and the delivery of healthcare products: A United Kingdom exemplar

Background. The cell and gene therapy (CGT) field is at a critical juncture. Clinical successes have underpinned the requirement for developing manufacturing capacity suited to patient-specific therapies that can satisfy the eventual demand post-launch. Decentralised or ‘redistributed’ manufacturing divides manufacturing capacity across geographic regions, promising local, responsive manufacturing, customised to the end user, and is an attractive solution to overcome challenges facing the CGT manufacturing chain. Methods. A study was undertaken building on previous, so far unpublished, semistructured interviews with key opinion leaders in advanced therapy research, manufacturing and clinical practice.The qualitative findings were applied to construct a cost of goods model that permitted the cost impact of regional siting to be combined with variable and fixed costs of manufacture of a mesenchymal stromal cell product. Results. Using the United Kingdom as an exemplar, cost disparities between regions were examined. Per patient dose costs of ~£1,800 per 75,000,000 cells were observed. Financial savings from situating the facility outside of London allow 25–41 additional staff or 24–35 extra manufacturing vessels to be employed. Decentralised quality control to mitigate site-to-site variation was examined. Partial decentralisation of quality control was observed to be financially possible and an attractive option for facilitating release ‘at risk’. Discussion. There are important challenges that obstruct the easy adoption of decentralised manufacturing that have the potential to undermine the market success of otherwise promising products. By using the United Kingdom as an exemplar, the modelled data provide a framework to inform similar regional policy considerations across other global territories

Unconventional gas: potential energy market impacts in the European Union

In the interest of effective policymaking, this report seeks to clarify certain controversies and identify key gaps in the evidence-base relating to unconventional gas. The scope of this report is restricted to the economic impact of unconventional gas on energy markets. As such, it principally addresses such issues as the energy mix, energy prices, supplies, consumption, and trade flows. Whilst this study touches on coal bed methane and tight gas, its predominant focus is on shale gas, which the evidence at this time suggests will be the form of unconventional gas with the most growth potential in the short- to medium-term. This report considers the prospects for the indigenous production of shale gas within the EU-27 Member States. It evaluates the available evidence on resource size, extractive technology, resource access and market access. This report also considers the implications for the EU of large-scale unconventional gas production in other parts of the world. This acknowledges the fact that many changes in the dynamics of energy supply can only be understood in the broader global context. It also acknowledges that the EU is a major importer of energy, and that it is therefore heavily affected by developments in global energy markets that are largely out of its control.JRC.F.3-Energy securit

Modeling and Controlling of an Integrated Distribution Supply Chain: Simulation Based Shipment Consolidation Heuristics

Increasing competition due to market globalization, product diversity and technological breakthroughs stimulates independent firms to collaborate in a supply chain that allows them to gain mutual benefits. This requires collective knowledge of the coordination and integration mode, including the ability to synchronize interdependent processes, to integrate information systems and to cope with distributed learning. The Integrated Supply Chain Problem (ISCP) is concerned with coordinating the supply chain tires from supplier, production, inventory and distribution delivery operations to meet customer demand with an objective to minimize the cost and maximize the supply chain service levels. In order to achieve high performance, supply chain functions must operate in an integrated and coordinated manner. Several challenging problems associated with integrated supply chain design are: (1) how to model and coordinate the supply chain business processes; (2) how to analyze the performance of an integrated supply chain network; and (3) how to evaluate the dynamic of the supply chain to obtain a comprehensive understanding of decision-making issues related to supply network configurations. These problems are most representative in the supply chain theory’s research and applications. A particular real life supply chain considered in this study involves multi echelon and multi level distribution supply chains, each echelon with its own inventory capacities and multi product types and classes. Optimally solving such an integrated problem is in general not easy due to its combinatorial nature, especially in a real life situation where a multitude of aspects and functions should be taken into consideration. In this dissertation, the simulation based heuristics solution method was implemented to effectively solve this integrated problem. A complex real life simulation model for managing the flow of material, transportation, and information considering multi products multi echelon inventory levels and capacities in upstream and downstream supply chain locations supported by an efficient Distribution Requirements Planning model (DRP) was modeled and developed named (LDNST) involving several sequential optimization phases. In calibration phase (0), the allocation of facilities to customers in the supply chain utilizing Add / Drop heuristics were implemented, that results in minimizing total distance traveled and maximizing the covering percentage. Several essential distribution strategies such as order fulfillment policy and order picking principle were defined in this phase. The results obtained in this phase were considered in further optimization solutions. The transportation function was modelled on pair to pair shipments in which no vehicle routing decision was considered, such an assumption generates two types of transportation trips, the first being Full Truck Load trips (FTL) and the second type being Less Truck Load trips (LTL). Three integrated shipment consolidation heuristics were developed and integrated into the developed simulation model to handle the potential inefficiency of low utilization and high transportation cost incurred by the LTL. The first consolidation heuristic considers a pure pull replenishment algorithm, the second is based on product clustering replenishments with a vendor managed inventory concept, and the last heuristic integrates the vendor managed inventory with advanced demand information to generate a new hybrid replenishment strategy. The main advantage of the latter strategy, over other approaches, is its ability to simultaneously optimize a lot of integrated and interrelated decisions for example, on the inventory and transportation operations without considering additional safety stock to improve the supply chain service levels. Eight product inventory allocation and distribution strategies considering different safety stock levels were designed and established to be considered as main benchmark experiments examined against the above developed replenishment strategies; appropriate selected supply chain performance measures were collected from the simulation results to distinguish any trading off between the proposed distribution strategies. Three supply chain network configurations were proposed: the first was a multi-echelon distribution system with an installation stock reorder policy; the second proposed configuration was Transshipment Point (TP) with a modified (s,S) inventory; and the last considered configuration was a Sub-TP, a special case from the second configuration. The results show that, depending on the structure of multi-echelon distribution systems and the service levels targets, both the echelon location with installation stock policy and advanced demand information replenishment strategy may be advantageous, and the impressive results and service level improvements bear this out. Considering the complexity of modeling the real life supply chain, the results obtained in this thesis reveal that there are significant differences in performance measures, such as activity based costs and network service levels. A supply chain network example is employed to substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed methodologies and algorithms

Development of transportation and supply chain problems with the combination of agent-based simulation and network optimization

Demand drives a different range of supply chain and logistics location decisions, and agent-based modeling (ABM) introduces innovative solutions to address supply chain and logistics problems. This dissertation focuses on an agent-based and network optimization approach to resolve those problems and features three research projects that cover prevalent supply chain management and logistics problems. The first case study evaluates demographic densities in Norway, Finland, and Sweden, and covers how distribution center (DC) locations can be established using a minimizing trip distance approach. Furthermore, traveling time maps are developed for each scenario. In addition, the Nordic area consisting of those three countries is analyzed and five DC location optimization results are presented. The second case study introduces transportation cost modelling in the process of collecting tree logs from several districts and transporting them to the nearest collection point. This research project presents agent-based modelling (ABM) that incorporates comprehensively the key elements of the pick-up and delivery supply chain model and designs the components as autonomous agents communicating with each other. The modelling merges various components such as GIS routing, potential facility locations, random tree log pickup locations, fleet sizing, trip distance, and truck and train transportation. The entire pick-up and delivery operation are modeled by ABM and modeling outcomes are provided by time series charts such as the number of trucks in use, facilities inventory and travel distance. In addition, various scenarios of simulation based on potential facility locations and truck numbers are evaluated and the optimal facility location and fleet size are identified. In the third case study, an agent-based modeling strategy is used to address the problem of vehicle scheduling and fleet optimization. The solution method is employed to data from a real-world organization, and a set of key performance indicators are created to assess the resolution's effectiveness. The ABM method, contrary to other modeling approaches, is a fully customized method that can incorporate extensively various processes and elements. ABM applying the autonomous agent concept can integrate various components that exist in the complex supply chain and create a similar system to assess the supply chain efficiency.Tuotteiden kysyntä ohjaa erilaisia toimitusketju- ja logistiikkasijaintipäätöksiä, ja agenttipohjainen mallinnusmenetelmä (ABM) tuo innovatiivisia ratkaisuja toimitusketjun ja logistiikan ongelmien ratkaisemiseen. Tämä väitöskirja keskittyy agenttipohjaiseen mallinnusmenetelmään ja verkon optimointiin tällaisten ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi, ja sisältää kolme tapaustutkimusta, jotka voidaan luokitella kuuluvan yleisiin toimitusketjun hallinta- ja logistiikkaongelmiin. Ensimmäinen tapaustutkimus esittelee kuinka käyttämällä väestötiheyksiä Norjassa, Suomessa ja Ruotsissa voidaan määrittää strategioita jakelukeskusten (DC) sijaintiin käyttämällä matkan etäisyyden minimoimista. Kullekin skenaariolle kehitetään matka-aikakartat. Lisäksi analysoidaan näistä kolmesta maasta koostuvaa pohjoismaista aluetta ja esitetään viisi mahdollista sijaintia optimointituloksena. Toinen tapaustutkimus esittelee kuljetuskustannusmallintamisen prosessissa, jossa puutavaraa kerätään useilta alueilta ja kuljetetaan lähimpään keräyspisteeseen. Tämä tutkimusprojekti esittelee agenttipohjaista mallinnusta (ABM), joka yhdistää kattavasti noudon ja toimituksen toimitusketjumallin keskeiset elementit ja suunnittelee komponentit keskenään kommunikoiviksi autonomisiksi agenteiksi. Mallinnuksessa yhdistetään erilaisia komponentteja, kuten GIS-reititys, mahdolliset tilojen sijainnit, satunnaiset puunhakupaikat, kaluston mitoitus, matkan pituus sekä monimuotokuljetukset. ABM:n avulla mallinnetaan noutojen ja toimituksien koko ketju ja tuloksena saadaan aikasarjoja kuvaamaan käytössä olevat kuorma-autot, sekä varastomäärät ja ajetut matkat. Lisäksi arvioidaan erilaisia simuloinnin skenaarioita mahdollisten laitosten sijainnista ja kuorma-autojen lukumäärästä sekä tunnistetaan optimaalinen toimipisteen sijainti ja tarvittava autojen määrä. Kolmannessa tapaustutkimuksessa agenttipohjaista mallinnusstrategiaa käytetään ratkaisemaan ajoneuvojen aikataulujen ja kaluston optimoinnin ongelma. Ratkaisumenetelmää käytetään dataan, joka on peräisin todellisesta organisaatiosta, ja ratkaisun tehokkuuden arvioimiseksi luodaan lukuisia keskeisiä suorituskykyindikaattoreita. ABM-menetelmä, toisin kuin monet muut mallintamismenetelmät, on täysin räätälöitävissä oleva menetelmä, joka voi sisältää laajasti erilaisia prosesseja ja elementtejä. Autonomisia agentteja soveltava ABM voi integroida erilaisia komponentteja, jotka ovat olemassa monimutkaisessa toimitusketjussa ja luoda vastaavan järjestelmän toimitusketjun tehokkuuden arvioimiseksi yksityiskohtaisesti.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed