Collector Managed Inventory, A Proactive Planning Approach to the Collection of Liquids coming from End-of-life Vehicles

In this article we introduce Collector Managed Inventory (CMI) as the reverse logistics counter part of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI).The collection company takes responsibility for the inventories of cores or materials to be recycled.Experience in forward supply chain management has shown the potential of VMI by bringing the coordination of transportation and inventory decisions to the same supply chain entity.Using information technology called telemetry, we are able to monitor inventory levels at distance.We introduce a proactive planning methodology based on two types of collection orders: must- and can-orders.Every collection period all must-orders have to be collected, while canorders are only collected if they can be combined beneficially with the must-orders.The routing problem is solved by a combination of route generation and set partitioning.The system is illustrated in a real-life case study for Auto Recycling Nederland on the collection of liquids coming from end-oflife vehicles, such as coolant and oil.In several scenarios the old reactive approach is compared to the proactive approach resulting in cost savings up to about 19%.supply;logistics;vehicle routine;distribution;information technology;inventory

Factory Gate Pricing: An Analysis of the Dutch Retail Distribution

Factory Gate Pricing (FGP) is a relatively new phenomenon in retail distribution. Under FGP, products are no longer delivered at the retailer distribution center, but collected by the retailer at the factory gates of the suppliers. Owing to both the asymmetry in the distribution networks (the supplier sites greatly outnumber the retailer distribution centers) and the better inventory and transport coordination mechanisms, this is likely to result in high savings. A mathematical model was used to analyze the benefits of FGP for a case study in the Dutch retail sector. Extensive numerical results are presented to show the effect of the orchestration shift from supplier to retailer, the improved coordination mechanisms, and sector-wide cooperation.supply chain management;factory gate pricing;retail distribution

Advanced Planning Concepts in the Closed-Loop Container Network of ARN

In this paper we discuss a real-life case study in the optimization of the logistics network for the collection of containers from end-of-life vehicle dismantlers in the Netherlands.Advanced planning concepts like dynamic assignment of dismantlers to logistic service providers are analyzed by a simulation model.In this model, we periodically solve a vehicle routing problem to gain insight in the long-term performance of the system.The vehicle routing problem considered is a multi depot pickup and delivery problem with alternative delivery locations.We solve this problem with a heuristic based on route generation and set partitioning.Reverse logistics;Closed-loop supply chain mmanagement;vehicle routing;set partitioning;distribution planning

Factory Gate Pricing: An Analysis of the Dutch Retail Distribution

Factory Gate Pricing (FGP) is a relatively new phenomenon in retail distribution.Under FGP, products are no longer delivered at the retailer distribution center, but collected by the retailer at the factory gates of the suppliers.Owing to both the asymmetry in the distribution networks (the supplier sites greatly outnumber the retailer distribution centers) and the better inventory and transport coordination mechanisms, this is likely to result in high savings.A mathematical model was used to analyze the benefits of FGP for a case study in the Dutch retail sector.Extensive numerical results are presented to show the effect of the orchestration shift from supplier to retailer, the improved coordination mechanisms, and sector-wide cooperation.pricing;retailing;distribution;supply chain management;Netherlands

Sulphur dioxide sensitivity in South African asthmatic children

Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is a well-known precipitant of asthmatic attacks. Many foodstuffs are preserved with SO2 and other sulphites. In this study 37 asthmatic children attending the Allergy Clinic at the Red Cross Children's Hospital were challenged with SO2 in apple juice in a dose similar to that commonly ingested in soft-drinks containing this preservative. The responses of these children were compared with the responses of 22 asthmatics challenged with apple juice alone.Sixteen out of 37 children (43,2%) challenged with SO2 reacted with a fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) of more than 10% compared with none of the 22 control asthmatic children challenged with apple juice alone (P = 0,0016). Girls were found to be more sensitive than boys. A 20% or more fall in FEV1 occurred in 8 (21,6%) of the children challenged with SO2 compared with none in the control group (P = 0,039). There was an individual variability in the responses of sensitive individuals to the SO2 challenge. Reactions occurred in spite of maintenance medication and occurred within 5 - 30 minutes of challenge. Since sulphite sensitivity is common in asthmatic children, ingestion of sulphites should be avoided

Collector Managed Inventory, A Proactive Planning Approach to the Collection of Liquids coming from End-of-life Vehicles

In this article we introduce Collector Managed Inventory (CMI) as the reverse logistics counter part of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI).The collection company takes responsibility for the inventories of cores or materials to be recycled.Experience in forward supply chain management has shown the potential of VMI by bringing the coordination of transportation and inventory decisions to the same supply chain entity.Using information technology called telemetry, we are able to monitor inventory levels at distance.We introduce a proactive planning methodology based on two types of collection orders: must- and can-orders.Every collection period all must-orders have to be collected, while canorders are only collected if they can be combined beneficially with the must-orders.The routing problem is solved by a combination of route generation and set partitioning.The system is illustrated in a real-life case study for Auto Recycling Nederland on the collection of liquids coming from end-oflife vehicles, such as coolant and oil.In several scenarios the old reactive approach is compared to the proactive approach resulting in cost savings up to about 19%.

Two mechanisms for the elimination of pinch singularities in out of equilibrium thermal field theories

We analyze ill-defined pinch singularities characteristic of out of equilibrium thermal field theories. We identify two mechanisms that eliminate pinching even at the single self-energy insertion approximation to the propagator: the first is based on the vanishing of phase space at the singular point (threshold effect). It is effective in QED with a massive electron and a massless photon. In massless QCD, this mechanism fails, but the pinches cancel owing to the second mechanism, i.e., owing to the spinor/tensor structure of the single self-energy insertion contribution to the propagator. The constraints imposed on distribution functions are very reasonable.Comment: 24 pages, Latex, no figures, revised version, many minor changes and correction