The Effects of Cognitive and Skill Learning on the Joint Vendor–Buyer Model with Imperfect Quality and Fuzzy Random Demand

This study investigates the optimization of an integrated production–inventory system that consists of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier and an OEM brand company. The cognitive and skill learning effect, imperfect quality, and fuzzy random demand are incorporated into the integrated two-echelon supply chain model to minimize the total cost. We contribute to dividing the learning effect into cognitive learning and skill learning, we build a new learning curve to resemble the real complexity more closely and avoid the problem that production time tends towards zero after production is stable. In total, five production–inventory models are constructed. Furthermore, a solution procedure is designed to solve the model to obtain the optimal order quantities, and the optimal shipment size. Additionally, the symbolic distance method is used to deal with the inverse fuzzification. Then numerical analysis shows that the increase of the cognitive learning coefficient and skill learning coefficient will reduce the total cost of the production–inventory system. With the increase of the cognitive learning coefficient, the gap between the total cost of cognitive learning and skill learning, and that of Wright learning, correspondingly decreases consistently. However, with the increase of the skill learning coefficient, there is a consistent corresponding increase. The total cost of cognitive learning and skill learning shows hyperbolic characteristics. The important insights of this study for managers are that employees’ knowledge plays an important role in reducing costs in the early learning stage and humanistic management measures should be taken to reduce employees’ turnover. Compared with the skill learning training for production technicians, we should pay more attention to the training of cognitive learning

Decision-Making of Transnational Supply Chain Considering Tariff and Third-Party Logistics Service

Countries’ economic policies, such as tariff barriers, have a profound impact on the global economy and international trade. The imposition of tariffs seriously disturbs the global trade and supply chain operations. This paper studies a supply chain composed of an overseas manufacturer, a domestic supplier and a third-party integrated international logistics service provider. A three-level decentralized leader-follower decision-making model and its variant--leader-follower alliance decision-making models are established, and the influences of revenue sharing and cost sharing on the three-level decentralized decision-making are analyzed. The results show that it is difficult for the supply chain to achieve coordination when the transportation and insurance costs are considered in the tariff cost. The increase of tariff rates will reduce the profits of all parties and the overall profit of the supply chain, and weaken the dominant position of the supplier in the supply chain. Revenue sharing can improve the supply chain performance; the performance of the whole supply chain cannot be improved or may even deteriorate by sharing the transportation cost alone. The study can provide practitioners with implications for how to carry effective cooperation and coordination in the supply chain and how to effectively reduce the influence of tariffs in the global trade system

Decision-Making of Transnational Supply Chain Considering Tariff and Third-Party Logistics Service

Countries’ economic policies, such as tariff barriers, have a profound impact on the global economy and international trade. The imposition of tariffs seriously disturbs the global trade and supply chain operations. This paper studies a supply chain composed of an overseas manufacturer, a domestic supplier and a third-party integrated international logistics service provider. A three-level decentralized leader-follower decision-making model and its variant--leader-follower alliance decision-making models are established, and the influences of revenue sharing and cost sharing on the three-level decentralized decision-making are analyzed. The results show that it is difficult for the supply chain to achieve coordination when the transportation and insurance costs are considered in the tariff cost. The increase of tariff rates will reduce the profits of all parties and the overall profit of the supply chain, and weaken the dominant position of the supplier in the supply chain. Revenue sharing can improve the supply chain performance; the performance of the whole supply chain cannot be improved or may even deteriorate by sharing the transportation cost alone. The study can provide practitioners with implications for how to carry effective cooperation and coordination in the supply chain and how to effectively reduce the influence of tariffs in the global trade system

In Situ Chemical Modification with Zwitterionic Copolymers of Nanofiltration Membranes:Cure for the Trade-Off between Filtration and Antifouling Performance

Breaking the trade-off between filtration performance and antifouling property is critical to enabling a thin-film nanocomposite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membrane for a wide range of feed streams. We proposed a novel design route for TFC NF membranes by grafting well-defined zwitterionic copolymers of [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide (SBMA) and 2-aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride (AEMA) on the polyamide surfaces via an in situ surface chemical modification process. The successful grafting of a zwitterionic copolymer imparted the modified NF membranes with better surface hydrophilicity, a larger actual surface area (i.e., nodular structures), and a thinner polyamide layer. As a result, the water permeability of the modified membrane (i.e., TFC-10) was triple that of the pristine TFC membrane while maintaining high Na2SO4 rejection. We further demonstrated that the TFC-10 membrane possessed exceptional antifouling properties in both static adsorption tests and three cycles of dynamic protein and humic acid fouling tests. To recap, this work provides valuable insights and strategies for the fabrication of TFC NF membranes with simultaneously enhanced filtration performance and antifouling property.</p

In Situ Chemical Modification with Zwitterionic Copolymers of Nanofiltration Membranes:Cure for the Trade-Off between Filtration and Antifouling Performance

[Image: see text] Breaking the trade-off between filtration performance and antifouling property is critical to enabling a thin-film nanocomposite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membrane for a wide range of feed streams. We proposed a novel design route for TFC NF membranes by grafting well-defined zwitterionic copolymers of [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide (SBMA) and 2-aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride (AEMA) on the polyamide surfaces via an in situ surface chemical modification process. The successful grafting of a zwitterionic copolymer imparted the modified NF membranes with better surface hydrophilicity, a larger actual surface area (i.e., nodular structures), and a thinner polyamide layer. As a result, the water permeability of the modified membrane (i.e., TFC-10) was triple that of the pristine TFC membrane while maintaining high Na(2)SO(4) rejection. We further demonstrated that the TFC-10 membrane possessed exceptional antifouling properties in both static adsorption tests and three cycles of dynamic protein and humic acid fouling tests. To recap, this work provides valuable insights and strategies for the fabrication of TFC NF membranes with simultaneously enhanced filtration performance and antifouling property