Humanitarian aid and relief distribution (HARD) game

© 2020 American Society for Engineering Education. Coordinating humanitarian supply chains can be challenging in terms of getting timely aid to those who need it. While operations in commercial supply chains have been well studied, research studies that address coordination in humanitarian supply chains are still lacking. Unlike commercial supply chains, humanitarian supply chains focus on delivering what customers need rather than want within difficult environments rife with uncertainty. This paper introduces the Humanitarian Aid and Relief Distribution (HARD) Game as an experiential learning tool that explores the potential for increased operational efficiency while balancing decision tradeoffs impacting humanitarian supply chain performance, including beneficiary demand satisfaction, operational costs, and transportation resources utilization. The HARD game is intended for graduate and undergraduate students in courses dealing with topics on supply chain management. It allows students to analyze aspects that significantly impact humanitarian supply chain operations, such as: supply chain coordination and planning, supply chain risks, demand volatility, and competing objectives. Statistical analysis of students\u27 survey responses provide evidence that the HARD game is an effective pedagogical tool that is engaging for students and complementary to the traditional lecture format in the field of supply chain management education

Sustainable global agrifood supply chains: exploring the barriers

The article investigates the factors that make businesses postpone integrating the performance dimension of sustainability in global agrifood supply chains. Based on literature-based conceptual reasoning, the article conceptualizes a double company lens distinguishing between substantial supply chain management and mere public relations endeavors as a major obstacle for businesses pursuing comprehensive supply chain performance in global agrifood chains. We point out that many supply chain performance attributes represent in fact credence attributes that cannot be verified by the consumer, hence entailing an information asymmetry between the company and its consumers. Rational business responses to this situation tend to focus on symbolic actions and communication efforts by means of sustainability reports and other brand-enhancing marketing tools that may be decoupled from substantial operations and supply chain improvements. The research propositions developed have partly been corroborated by a content analysis of annual and sustainability reports of four major agrifood companies (Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mondelez International). The conceptual arguments and empirical analysis presented in the article may serve as the basis for managers and academics to develop innovative inter- and intra-organizational business processes that reconcile tradeoffs between various agrifood supply chain performance dimensions, thus pushing the performance frontier outwards; and that provide the necessary transparency for overcoming the currently adverse setting of incentives inherent in the food production, processing, retailing, and consumption system

Designing market-oriented beta-glucan enriched functional foods through conjoint analysis: evidence of differing consumer preferences

New product development (NPD) has a significant role to play in the rapidly evolving food supply chain where firms wish to utilise innovative novel ingredients to meet consumers’ increased needs for healthier foods. It is a knowledge intensive process where the generation of new ideas and concepts requires detailed knowledge of both products and consumers. Beta-glucan, a novel soluble fibre, is of major interest to global food firms for its ability to increase the functionality of food and beverage products through increasing the soluble fibre content. The determination of intrinsic and extrinsic product attributes that maximise consumer acceptance of beta-glucan enriched products is largely dependant on a market-oriented NPD process. This study utilised a Conjoint Analysis methodology to examine the tradeoffs consumers would make during the purchasing decision process for healthy beta-glucan enriched breads. Three hundred consumers rated twenty-two hypothetical products on a nine-point Likert scale according to their willingness to purchase. This research identified key attributes which determined consumers’ preferences for these enriched products and identified four viable consumer segments. Managing customer knowledge during the early stages of the NPD process can help firms overcome customer acceptance issues associated with innovative functional ingredients and encourage firms to respond to new market opportunities along the food supply chain.Knowledge Management, Market orientation, Conjoint Analysis, Beta-glucan., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Decision support for build-to-order supply chain management through multiobjective optimization

This paper aims to identify the gaps in decision-making support based on multiobjective optimization for build-to-order supply chain management (BTOSCM). To this end, it reviews the literature available on modelling build-to-order supply chains (BTO-SC) with the focus on adopting multiobjective optimization (MOO) techniques as a decision support tool. The literature has been classified based on the nature of the decisions in different part of the supply chain, and the key decision areas across a typical BTO-SC are discussed in detail. Available software packages suitable for supporting decision making in BTO supply chains are also identified and their related solutions are outlined. The gap between the modelling and optimization techniques developed in the literature and the decision support needed in practice are highlighted and future research directions to better exploit the decision support capabilities of MOO are proposed

Decision support for build-to-order supply chain management through multiobjective optimization

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in International Journal of Production Economics. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2010 Elsevier B.V.This paper aims to identify the gaps in decision-making support based on multiobjective optimization (MOO) for build-to-order supply chain management (BTO-SCM). To this end, it reviews the literature available on modelling build-to-order supply chains (BTO-SC) with the focus on adopting MOO techniques as a decision support tool. The literature has been classified based on the nature of the decisions in different part of the supply chain, and the key decision areas across a typical BTO-SC are discussed in detail. Available software packages suitable for supporting decision making in BTO supply chains are also identified and their related solutions are outlined. The gap between the modelling and optimization techniques developed in the literature and the decision support needed in practice are highlighted. Future research directions to better exploit the decision support capabilities of MOO are proposed. These include: reformulation of the extant optimization models with a MOO perspective, development of decision supports for interfaces not involving manufacturers, development of scenarios around service-based objectives, development of efficient solution tools, considering the interests of each supply chain party as a separate objective to account for fair treatment of their requirements, and applying the existing methodologies on real-life data sets.Brunel Research Initiative and Enterprise Fund (BRIEF

Innovative, Holistic, “Cradle-to-Grave” Approach to Implement more Sustainable Nutrition

Creating more sustainable products is a major topic throughout the consumer goods industry. To succeed, it is necessary to follow a holistic, “cradle-to-grave” approach which involves stakeholders throughout the entire value chain while focusing on consumer goods. Focusing only on one specific value chain step can create unintended consequences in a later stage of a products life cycle. This paper shows how applied science and value chain management through BASF’s Sustainability, Eco-Efficiency and Traceability (SET) Initiative meets those needs. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the quantitative technique to determine multiple environmental, social and economic impacts of a product and points out potential tradeoffs. However LCA alone cannot comprise all impacts. Therefore BASF’s efforts are not just fundamentally based on this technique but also go beyond it. This paper first explains the three pillars of the initiative, consisting of the Hot Spot Analysis (a qualitative tool), the Eco-Efficiency Analysis (a unique LCA approach) and the traceability strategy for supply chain transparency. It secondly presents examples for the 3 pillars for the pork value chain

Competitive Positioning in International Logistics: Identifying a System of Attributes Through Neural Networks and Decision Trees

Firms involved in international logistics must develop a system of service attributes that give them a way to be profitable and to satisfy customers’ needs at the same time. How customers trade-off these various attributes in forming satisfaction with competing international logistics providers has not been explored well in the literature. This study explores the ocean freight shipping sector to identify the system of attributes that maximizes customers’ satisfaction. Data were collected from shipping managers in Singapore using personal interviews to identify the chief concerns in choosing and evaluating ocean freight services. The data were then examined using neural networks and decision trees, among other approaches to identify the system of attributes that is connected with customer satisfaction. The results illustrate the power of these methods in understanding how industrial customers with global operations process attributes to derive satisfaction. Implications are discussed

LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES IN GRAIN EXPORTING

During the past decade, the grain shipping industry has become highly competitive and technologically advanced. These changes, along with the introduction of innovative shipping mechanisms, have made logistics management an important source of opportunity and risk for grain shippers. In this study, a stochastic simulation model was developed to evaluate the tradeoffs and effects of key variables on logistical performance in managing the grain supply chain. Average demurrage cost for the supply chain was $2.03 million with the greatest cost being for railcars and the least cost being for barges. Of the stochastic variables modeled, changes in export demand had the greatest impact on demurrage costs.Supply Chain, Grain Shipping, Logistics, Demurrage, Guaranteed Freight, Industrial Organization,