Scheduling Coordination in a Supply Chain Using Advance Demand Information.

In an environment of mass customization where demand information can be placed in advance with sequencing orders, the question of the best use of this information arises in a supply chain. This situation led the authors to analyze the efficiency of current mechanisms of scheduling coordination when suppliers' processes are not completely reliable. Policies such as periodic replenishment or the kanban system, characterized by a replacement of the items to consume, cannot be exploited effectively with the current rules. This paper presents and justifies new scheduling coordination rules allowing synchronous production in an unreliable environment. This new approach has been benchmarked in the automotive industry as an appropriate method to avoid stockouts and decrease the safety stock.Chaîne logistique; Synchronisation de la production dans une chaîne logistique; kanban; Production synchrone; Point de Pénétration de commande;

Exploitation of the knowledge of the final demand in the piloting of a logistics chain.

The transition from synchronous supplies to synchronous production represent a possible alternative to the neighbourhood logistics configurations, especially in the automotive industry. It allows to gain, on certain conditions, efficiency and more manoeuvrability faced with a strong variability of the demand on the supply chain. The utilization of the Order Penetration Point (OPP) will introduce problems in piloting production between clients and suppliers processes. This article is based on several working assumptions which form an algorithm for the resolution of this problem resulting from an analysis of two industrial cases with stochastic models.synchronous production; supply chain; anticipation; piloting of flows; order penetration point; kanban;

End-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling management: improving performance using an ISM approach

With booming of the automobile industry, China has become the country with increasing car ownership all over the world. However, the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling industry is at infancy, and there is little systematic review on ELV recycling management, as well as low adoption amongst domestic automobile industry. This study presents a literature review and an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach is employed to identify the drivers towards Chinese ELV recycling business from government, recycling organizations and consumer’s perspectives, so as to improve the sustainability of automobile supply chain by providing some strategic insights. The results derived from the ISM analysis manifest that regulations on auto-factory, disassembly technique, and value mining of recycling business are the essential ingredients. It is most effective and efficient to promote ELV recycling business by improving these attributes, also the driving and dependence power analysis are deemed to provide guidance on performance improvement of ELV recycling in the Chinese market

Evaluation of Logistics Service Level in Multiple Modes of Transportation

The project has been initiated in the aftersales department of an automotive company. Since the company has had recently record years in gaining market share and further efforts are being done to gain a competitive edge over the competitive brand by selling more aftersales parts. Which in turn makes it challenging for logistics to manage the in-creasing inflow and outflow of parts. For the case company, logistics processes form the critical loop involving both the company performance in logistics and customer experience. The company realizes that logistics costs can vastly impact overall business performance. Hence, an opportunity is presented at the case company to expedite regular stock-orders by utilizing available space inside emergency-order trucks instead of using shipping containers. The idea behind this proposed modification is that it will reduce lead time and increase logistics service quality. But the actual problem in this situation is the lack of knowledge to understand company-specific logistics service quality and then the evaluation framework which can help the management to decide whether to proceed or oppose the business idea. Literature was reviewed to define the objectives of service levels and how to measure service quality. Based on the previous literature, a theoretical framework was developed which served as a guiding principle for the latter empirical analysis. The data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews and information was acquired from a logistics management software. The results from both the quantitative and qualitative analysis uncovered that the case company has substantial profit margins to proceed with the proposed logistics activity leaving enough room for overhead costs. The logistics process does involve multiple challenges, but after performing sensitivity analysis, it was found that the process is flexible enough to handle challenges. Thus, the study provides a positive indication to proceed with this opportunity for a pilot test-run project

Supply chain management in industrial production. A retrospective view

The article presents a retrospective review on key-issues about how the management discipline evolved up to the current view about supply-chain management (SCM) in industrial production. Specifically, the article resumes: a) the reasons that led to the transition from the traditional procurement policies to the SCM approach, b) the variables involved in the process of defining SCM relations and c) the key managerial principles underlying SCM policies and strategies. In the manufacturing industry the problem of organizing and managing firm’s relationships with supplier has recently become of an unprecedented complexity. The evolution of production systems started around the ‘80s, with the shift from the “flexible” paradigm to the “lean” one, has increased dramatically the intricacy of product and process architecture.. At the same time, the opportunities brought by the technological hybridization of products (that is: opportunities deriving from incorporating complementary technologies within products so to enhance its features and performance) gained a critical role as a competitive advantage. In our view supply chain management, as well as others managerial areas, has undergone a profound change; indeed, in the last 30 years the evolution of the industrial competitive environment has deeply modified the reference framework of supply-chain relationships even in common procurement and/or routine contracts. In the attempt to give an adequate response to changes in the competitive environment, supply policies evolve to become articulate relational strategies based on the strategic assessments of the role and the relevance of the various suppliers. The traditional approach to procurement management is combined with a perspective of value creation, a perspective that goes beyond the traditional “make-or-buy” criteria, since it introduces principles for the assessment of the strategic capability of the suppliers to create value for customer rather than to be able to fulfill its task for the firm. In such a view, firms operating in the same value-chain coordinate their strategies with a view to increase the overall value rather than compete for the allocation of the existing one. Firms’ network of suppliers and the relational capabilities assume a critical role in order to coordinate the value creation processes within the chain.Supply chain management, industrial management

A simulation model for lean, agile, resilient and green supply chain management: practices and interoperability assessment

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão IndustrialIn today’s global market, the environment of unpredictable events has imposed a competitiveness improvement that requires a greater coordination and collaboration among Supply Chain (SC) entities, i.e., an effective Supply Chain Management (SCM). In this context, Lean, Agile, Resilient and Green (LARG) strategies emerged as a response. However, interoperability issues are always presents in operations among SC entities. From the Information Technology (IT) perspective, among all the multi-decisional techniques supporting a logistics network, simulation appears as an essential tool that allow the quantitative evaluation of benefits and issues deriving from a co-operative environment. The present work provides a SC simulation model for analysing the effect of the interoperability degree of LARG practices in the SC performance, through Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) such as cost, lead time and service level. The creation of two scenarios with a different point of view about the LARG practices allowed to analyse which one contributes to the best SC performance. Since some of the inputs were assumed, it was made a sensitivity analysis to validate the output of the simulation model. Based on the creation of six types of math expressions, it was possible to establish the connection between the effect of the interoperability degree of LARG practices and the SC performance. This analysis was applied on a case study that was conducted at some entities of a Portuguese automotive SC. The software used to develop the simulation model is Arena, which is considered a user-friendly and dynamic tool. It was concluded that SCM, interoperability and simulation subjects must be applied together to help organisations to achieve overall competitiveness, focusing their strategies on a co-operative environment

Improving visibility using RFID – the case of a company in the automotive sector

The purpose of this paper is to present some results of an ongoing project that intends to improve internal logistics visibility using RFID at an electronics company of the automotive sector. The first step of this project was to identify the traceability problems of raw materials at the company and to design an RFID–based solution to solve such problems. Additionally, the main challenges related to the implementation of that solution were identified and discussed. Through interviews, documental analysis, and observation, the current internal logistic processes are described and the main traceability problems identified. This paper is, mainly, concerned with presenting the problems and the difficulties found by the project team. Additionally, the RFID based solution is proposed (prototype description) as also the key challenges, expected results and advantages (e.g. more increased control of raw materials and automatization of handling and storing processes).This work has been financially supported by the Portugal Incentive System for Research and Technological Development in scope of the projects in co-promotion nº 002814/2015 (iFACTORY 2015-2018).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio