Design of Closed Loop Supply Chains

Increased concern for the environment has lead to new techniques to design products and supply chains that are both economically and ecologically feasible. This paper deals with the product - and corresponding supply chain design for a refrigerator. Literature study shows that there are many models to support product design and logistics separately, but not in an integrated way. In our research we develop quantitative modelling to support an optimal design structure of a product, i.e. modularity, repairability, recyclability, as well as the optimal locations and goods flows allocation in the logistics system. Environmental impacts are measured by energy and waste. Economic costs are modelled as linear functions of volumes with a fixed set-up component for facilities. We apply this model using real life R&D data of a Japanese consumer electronics company. The model is run for different scenarios using different parameter settings such as centralised versus decentralised logistics, alternative product designs, varying return quality and quantity, and potential environmental legislation based on producer responsibility.supply chain management;reverse logistics;facility location;network design;product design

Agent-Based Modelling and Heuristic Approach for Solving Complex OEM Flow-Shop Productions under Customer Disruptions

The application of the agent-based simulation approach in the flow-shop production environment has recently gained popularity among researchers. The concept of agent and agent functions can help to automate a variety of difficult tasks and assist decision-making in flow-shop production. This is especially so in the large-scale Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) industry, which is associated with many uncertainties. Among these are uncertainties in customer demand requirements that create disruptions that impact production planning and scheduling, hence, making it difficult to satisfy demand in due time, in the right order delivery sequence, and in the right item quantities. It is however important to devise means of adapting to these inevitable disruptive problems by accommodating them while minimising the impact on production performance and customer satisfaction. In this paper, an innovative embedded agent-based Production Disruption Inventory-Replenishment (PDIR) framework, which includes a novel adaptive heuristic algorithm and inventory replenishment strategy which is proposed to tackle the disruption problems. The capabilities and functionalities of agents are utilised to simulate the flow-shop production environment and aid learning and decision making. In practice, the proposed approach is implemented through a set of experiments conducted as a case study of an automobile parts facility for a real-life large-scale OEM. The results are presented in term of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as the number of late/unsatisfied orders, to determine the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The results reveal a minimum number of late/unsatisfied orders, when compared with other approaches

Measuring impact of academic research in computer and information science on society

Academic research in computer & information science (CIS) has contributed immensely to all aspects of society. As academic research today is substantially supported by various government sources, recent political changes have created ambivalence amongst academics about the future of research funding. With uncertainty looming, it is important to develop a framework to extract and measure the information relating to impact of CIS research on society to justify public funding, and demonstrate the actual contribution and impact of CIS research outside academia. A new method combining discourse analysis and text mining of a collection of over 1000 pages of impact case study documents written in free-text format for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 was developed in order to identify the most commonly used categories or headings for reporting impact of CIS research by UK Universities (UKU). According to the research reported in REF2014, UKU acquired 83 patents in various areas of CIS, created 64 spin-offs, generated £857.5 million in different financial forms, created substantial employment, reached over 6 billion users worldwide and has helped save over £1 billion Pounds due to improved processes etc. to various sectors internationally, between 2008 and 2013