Design of demand driven return supply chain for high-tech products

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to design a responsive network for after-sale services of high-tech products. Design/methodology/approach: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and weighted max-min approach are integrated to solve a fuzzy goal programming model. Findings: Uncertainty is an important characteristic of reverse logistics networks, and the level of uncertainty increases with the decrease of the products’ life-cycle. Research limitations/implications: Some of the objective functions of our model are simplified to deal with non-linearities. Practical implications: Designing after-sale services networks for high-tech products is an overwhelming task, especially when the external environment is characterized by high levels of uncertainty and dynamism. This study presents a comprehensive modeling approach to simplify this task. Originality/value: Consideration of multiple objectives is rare in reverse logistics network design literature. Although the number of multi-objective reverse logistics network design studies has been increasing in recent years, the last two objective of our model is unique to this research area.Peer Reviewe

Electronic Business (EB) in the Context of Global Sourcing: A Proposed Framework

Global sourcing operates under the challenges and pressures of intensive global-wide competition. Global sourcing can benefit from the functionality of electronic business (EB) by exhibiting more flexible structures and added opportunities in communications and transactions with partners among worldwide supply chains/networks. This study aims to answer two research questions, “what are the relationships between global sourcing and EB?” and “how do EB applications and strategies help global sourcing lead to better performance?” Our literature review addresses the relationships between global sourcing and EB from three perspectives: the applied theories, the covered business scope, and the changing roles of flows. In analyzing the potential benefits of EB to global sourcing, the enhancement on SC components and alignment effects are discussed. Finally, a framework is proposed to highlight how EB and global sourcing interact with each other, resulting in five major issues: the enhancement of SC components, the changing micro-environment, the effect of accelerating evolution of global sourcing, the integration of activities, and the significant improvement on outcomes

Design of demand driven return supply chain for high-tech products

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to design a responsive network for after-sale services of high-tech products. Design/methodology/approach: Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and weighted max-min approach are integrated to solve a fuzzy goal programming model. Findings: Uncertainty is an important characteristic of reverse logistics networks, and the level of uncertainty increases with the decrease of the products’ life-cycle. Research limitations/implications: Some of the objective functions of our model are simplified to deal with non-linearities. Practical implications: Designing after-sale services networks for high-tech products is an overwhelming task, especially when the external environment is characterized by high levels of uncertainty and dynamism. This study presents a comprehensive modeling approach to simplify this task. Originality/value: Consideration of multiple objectives is rare in reverse logistics network design literature. Although the number of multi-objective reverse logistics network design studies has been increasing in recent years, the last two objective of our model is unique to this research area

Manufacturing cell performance improvement: a simulation study

This paper reports on the study of the “underbody front”-automated welding cell at Opel Belgium, a major automobile manufacturer of General Motors International Operations. It employs the use of simulation in an experimental design framework to identify potential improvements in average daily output through management of buffer sizes at key buffer locations within the cell. Many practical applications of animated computer simulation stop at the modeling and displaying of the process under study. Simulation as a tool for process reengineering or enhancement can only reach its full potential if incorporated in a comprehensive statistical study, so as to attain statistically significant results. The paper also reports on the reactions of, and issues raised by, management when the experimental design methodology was presented as a tool for process enhancement and productivity improvement

A Production planning model and a case study for the pharmaceutical industry in The Netherlands

A strategic aggregate production planning model was developed for a pharmaceutical company in The Netherlands. It supports strategic planning decisions on changing production capacity, The production line and ways of improving plant performance by comparing optimal total individual cost components with the actual performance data. The model also supports aggregate decisions with regards to order acceptance, detailed production planning and purchasing. Optimal production timing provides good estimates of sales and customer release dates. The effects of external factors such as an expedited order and possible production delays can also be analysed and the sales value of the order calculated. In addition, optimal production plans for the most important items can be used for detailed scheduling tasks and purchasing of raw materials for future periods.13 page(s

Determinants of informal coordination in networked supply chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine capability connectivity, relationship alignment and the ability to informally network in the supply chain as determinants for better utilizing capabilities amongst supply chain partners. In particular, the paper focuses on how the above described determinants may impact on operational performance in the supply chain when responding to short‐lived demand requirements or highly dynamic markets. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed research methodology is used, including a qualitative exploratory phase to confirm the relevance of the research question to the practitioner, followed by quantitative structural equation modeling, based on a sample of 231 supply chain professionals. Findings – In total, four determinants of informal networking were derived: capability connectivity, describing the ability of supply chain partners to rapidly and informally integrate capabilities, such as IT, to service an ad hoc market requirement; relationship alignment or the ability to informally integrate resources across supply chain partners in the context of highly dynamic market situations; the informally networked supply chain itself, measuring the ability of supply chain partners to respond to transient opportunities in the context of highly dynamic markets; and finally operational performance which measures the effect informal networking has on company performance. Results show that informal coordination of supply chain activities influences operational performance in different ways, and most significantly impacts positively on operational efficiency through supply‐oriented informal networking. The study identified that industry rules and regulations have a significant impact on the propensity of supply chain partners to collaborate informally. Finally, it is also shown that relationship alignment between companies is an important factor to achieve both market‐ and supply‐oriented informal networking capabilities. Practical implications – The management of industry rules, regulation, connectivity, and relationship alignment are significant antecedents for informal coordination of supply chain capabilities in business networks. The study shows positive effects of informal networking in supply chains on operational efficiency, and suggests that companies should strive to enable greater flexibility to connect with their trading partners without an abundance of idiosyncrasies. Furthermore, relationship alignment, in combination with process and IT connectivity, is significant in creating the foundation for informal networking in supply chains, in particular for supply‐related activities. Originality/value – The paper adds a new concept, the informally networked supply chain, and shows that capability connectivity and relationship alignment may enable new alternative ways of coordinating supply chain capabilities to meet a specific market requirement. As such, it offers a new perspective in relation to flexibility and agility in the supply chain

Development of an Interactive Framework of Electronic Business and Global Sourcing

16 page(s

Multi-level inventory management decisions with transportation cost consideration

In this article we address specific inventory management decisions with transportation cost consideration in a multi-level environment consisting of a supplier-warehouse-retailers. We develop two models - namely, decentralized ordering model and centralized ordering model to investigate the effect of collective ordering by retailers on the total inventory cost of the system. A numerical study shows that the proposed model is robust and generates reasonable cost savings. The models have potential in several multi-level applications such as fresh or frozen food delivery to stores of different supermarkets or the supply of medicine to a number of hospitals from a wholesaler.Inventory management Decentralized ordering Centralized ordering Transportation

Environmentally Conscious Design of Upstream Crude Oil Supply Chain

In the past few decades, very rapid growth in environmental legislation has resulted in an increasing will of companies to address environmental thinking through their supply chain. In this context, great strides have been made to incorporate the environmental concerns, such as “green” and “sustainable” supply chains, along with the traditional economic indicators. To assess the environmental impacts, there is no agreement on a universal environmental metric. Hence, a plethora of indicators has been developed to measure environmental impacts. The environmental indicators (e.g., Eco-indicator 99) that are founded on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework and nowadays are becoming among the popular environmental assessment methodologies. The crude oil tankers and utilities consumptions are the main origins of emissions through the crude oil supply chain. The energy required for operating upstream facilities in the crude oil supply chain represents enormous energy consumption. Whereas, ships and oil tankers are of the highest polluting combustion origins, per unit of fuel used. As a result, environmentally conscious design of upstream crude oil supply chain has created intriguing new challenges for practitioners and the managers. In this work, we introduce an environmentally conscious mathematical model to design the Upstream Oil Supply Chain (i.e., oil field development, and crude oil transportation). The model configure the supply network, select the technologies, establish the pipeline network, and plan the oil tankers with optimizing the economic objective value (i.e., the net present value) and the environmental metric value (i.e., the standard Eco-indicator 99 value)