A fuzzy optimization approach for procurement transport operational planning in an automobile supply chain

We consider a real-world automobile supply chain in which a first-tier supplier serves an assembler and determines its procurement transport planning for a second-tier supplier by using the automobile assembler's demand information, the available capacity of trucks and inventory levels. The proposed fuzzy multi-objective integer linear programming model (FMOILP) improves the transport planning process for material procurement at the first-tier supplier level, which is subject to product groups composed of items that must be ordered together, order lot sizes, fuzzy aspiration levels for inventory and used trucks and uncertain truck maximum available capacities and minimum percentages of demand in stock. Regarding the defuzzification process, we apply two existing methods based on the weighted average method to convert the FMOILP into a crisp MOILP to then apply two different aggregation functions, which we compare, to transform this crisp MOILP into a single objective MILP model. A sensitivity analysis is included to show the impact of the objectives weight vector on the final solutions. The model, based on the full truck load material pick method, provides the quantity of products and number of containers to be loaded per truck and period. An industrial automobile supply chain case study demonstrates the feasibility of applying the proposed model and the solution methodology to a realistic procurement transport planning problem. The results provide lower stock levels and higher occupation of the trucks used to fulfill both demand and minimum inventory requirements than those obtained by the manual spreadsheet-based method. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.This work has been funded partly by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology project: Production technology based on the feedback from production, transport and unload planning and the redesign of warehouses decisions in the supply chain (Ref. DPI2010-19977) and by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia project 'Material Requirement Planning Fourth Generation (MRPIV) (Ref. PAID-05-12)'.Díaz-Madroñero Boluda, FM.; Peidro Payá, D.; Mula, J. (2014). A fuzzy optimization approach for procurement transport operational planning in an automobile supply chain. Applied Mathematical Modelling. 38(23):5705-5725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2014.04.053S57055725382

Comparative Analysis of the Life-Cycle Cost of Robot Substitution: A Case of Automobile Welding Production in China

Within the context of the large-scale application of industrial robots, methods of analyzing the life-cycle cost (LCC) of industrial robot production have shown considerable developments, but there remains a lack of methods that allow for the examination of robot substitution. Taking inspiration from the symmetry philosophy in manufacturing systems engineering, this article further establishes a comparative LCC analysis model to compare the LCC of the industrial robot production with traditional production at the same time. This model introduces intangible costs (covering idle loss, efficiency loss and defect loss) to supplement the actual costs and comprehensively uses various methods for cost allocation and variable estimation to conduct total cost and the cost efficiency analysis, together with hierarchical decomposition and dynamic comparison. To demonstrate the model, an investigation of a Chinese automobile manufacturer is provided to compare the LCC of welding robot production with that of manual welding production; methods of case analysis and simulation are combined, and a thorough comparison is done with related existing works to show the validity of this framework. In accordance with this study, a simple template is developed to support the decision-making analysis of the application and cost management of industrial robots. In addition, the case analysis and simulations can provide references for enterprises in emerging markets in relation to robot substitution

Assessing the Impact of Digital Finance on the Total Factor Productivity of Commercial Banks: An Empirical Analysis of China

With the development of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, digital technology and finance are becoming increasingly intertwined. At present, digital finance has altered the competitive environment of commercial banks, and the traditional competitive edges in service scenarios and channels, customer information, and capital have been challenged. Based on perfect competition and technology spillover effects, this study attempted to measure the impact of digital finance on commercial banks’ total factor productivity (TFP) and its mediating and moderating mechanisms. We have used the data envelopment analysis-based Malmquist productivity index to measure the total factor productivity of 132 commercial banks in China between 2011 and 2019. The results show that (a) digital finance significantly enhances the TFP of commercial banks; (b) risk taking partially mediates the relationship between digital finance and TFP. The study further tests the effect of the nature of property rights and the moderating effect of diversification. The findings suggest that digital finance significantly improves the TFP of non-state-owned commercial banks but has no significant effect on the TFP of state-owned commercial banks. Additionally, the implementation of diversification can strengthen the effect of digital finance on TFP

Employment Effect of Structural Change in Strategic Emerging Industries

Stable development of strategic emerging industries promotes its industrial transformation and upgrading, which has affected the development of not only the society and the economy but also other fields, thereby having a great impact on employment. To measure the impact of structural change of strategic emerging industries on employment in China, this paper constructs a regression equation, in which the employment of strategic emerging industries is the dependent variable, while the change direction of strategic emerging industry structure, the employment elasticity of strategic emerging industries and the change speed of industrial structure are the independent variables. The research results are as follows: (i) The change direction of strategic emerging industries is positively correlated with employment. (ii) The employment elasticity of strategic emerging industries is on the rise, and is positively correlated with employment. (iii) The speed of change of strategic emerging industries is unstable, and is negatively correlated with employment. As a result, the structural change in strategic emerging industries has played a role in promoting employment. The government should recognize the impact of structural changes in strategic emerging industries on China’s employment. By implementing the existing strategic emerging industry policies and improving the external environment for the development of strategic emerging industries, the strategic emerging industries will play the role of “innovation, growth and leadership” in economic and social development

Construction of enterprise digital service and operation platform based on internet of things technology

The enterprise digital service and operation platform is a national-level platform for operating digital content in the field of standardisation. Based on the national standards for enterprise digital service products, this platform develops a digital product library of standard resource content. The construction of a public operation platform will provide standard digital products and personalised services for individuals and institutional users. The concept of Internet of Things technology is constantly evolving from ‘smart earth’ in the United States to the ‘perceived China’ in China. However, no unified definition has been reached thus far. This study examined the construction of enterprise digital service and operation platforms based on the Internet of Things technology. Under the same conditions, the peak value of the data processing efficiency of a single thread in the asynchronous architecture was approximately 4,200 pieces, whereas that in the synchronous architecture was approximately 1,200 pieces. The processing performance of the asynchronous architecture is improved by 320% relative that of the synchronous architecture. As a global dynamic network, the Internet of Things technology can realise intelligent identification, positioning, monitoring, and other functions through specific equipment, sensors, and information processing technologies. It is based on the Internet and has thus been extended and expanded

From IIR to FIR digital MIMO models a constructive Hankel norm approximation method /

This paper presents a constructive method to (sub)optimal finite impulse response (FIR) approximation of a given infinite impulse response (IIR) MIMO model. The method minimizes the Hankel norm of approximation error by using the explicit solution of norm-preserve dilation problem. It has the advantage over the existing methods that it provides an explicitly constructive solution and allows the trade-off between the Chebyshev and least square criteria. The lower and upper bounds on the H2 and H∞ norms of approximation error are given. The algorithm for approximating non-causal IIR filters by causal FIR filters is also formulated and solved. The effectiveness and properties of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated through two examples

Symmetric Modeling of Diversification Strategy and Organizational Structure on Financial Performance: Evidence from China

Diversification is a strategy adopted by many enterprises in the process of expansion. The success of the diversification of an enterprise mainly depends on the choice and implement of strategy; choosing an organizational structure that fits the type of diversification strategy used is fundamental to improving financial performance. Based on the empirical research method, this study establishes a symmetric model of diversification strategy and organizational structure on financial performance and selects data from 613 A-share-listed companies in China, from 2012 to 2016, to test the impacts of unrelated and related diversification strategies on financial performance, as well as the moderating effects of united company, holding company, and multidivisional structures on such relationships. The results show that there is asymmetry between the diversification strategy adopted and financial performance, and a related diversification strategy should be adopted as a priority; the symmetry of an unrelated diversification strategy and holding company structure on financial performance is partially confirmed, and other elements should be adopted, simultaneously, to improve this symmetry; a related diversification strategy and multidivisional structure on financial performance is symmetric. The above findings will provide references for the diversification strategy choice and the organizational structure design of enterprises