Inventory drivers in a pharmaceutical supply chain

In recent years, inventory reduction has been a key objective of pharmaceutical companies, especially within cost optimization initiatives. Pharmaceutical supply chains are characterized by volatile and unpredictable demands –especially in emergent markets-, high service levels, and complex, perishable finished-good portfolios, which makes keeping reasonable amounts of stock a true challenge. However, a one-way strategy towards zero-inventory is in reality inapplicable, due to the strategic nature and importance of the products being commercialised. Therefore, pharmaceutical supply chains are in need of new inventory strategies in order to remain competitive. Finished-goods inventory management in the pharmaceutical industry is closely related to the manufacturing systems and supply chain configurations that companies adopt. The factors considered in inventory management policies, however, do not always cover the full supply chain spectrum in which companies operate. This paper works under the pre-assumption that, in fact, there is a complex relationship between the inventory configurations that companies adopt and the factors behind them. The intention of this paper is to understand the factors driving high finished-goods inventory levels in pharmaceutical supply chains and assist supply chain managers in determining which of them can be influenced in order to reduce inventories to an optimal degree. Reasons for reducing inventory levels are found in high inventory holding and scrap related costs; in addition to lost sales for not being able to serve the customers with the adequate shelf life requirements. The thesis conducts a single case study research in a multi-national pharmaceutical company, which is used to examine typical inventory configurations and the factors affecting these configurations. This paper presents a framework that can assist supply chain managers in determining the most important inventory drivers in pharmaceutical supply chains. The findings in this study suggest that while external and downstream supply chain factors are recognized as being critical to pursue inventory optimization initiatives, pharmaceutical companies are oriented towards optimizing production processes and meeting regulatory requirements while still complying with high service levels, being internal factors the ones prevailing when making inventory management decisions. Furthermore, this paper investigates, through predictive modelling techniques, how various intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence the inventory configurations of the case study company. The study shows that inventory configurations are relatively unstable over time, especially in configurations that present high safety stock levels; and that production features and product characteristics are important explanatory factors behind high inventory levels. Regulatory requirements also play an important role in explaining the high strategic inventory levels that pharmaceutical companies hold

The Contribution of Critical Theory to New Thinking on Peacekeeping: Some Lessons from MINURSO

YesThis paper sums up the findings from the first comprehensive study on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. This research project explores the possibilities of using a Foucualtian analysis to look at the links between peacekeeping practice and Western policies of conflict containment in the Western Sahara with a view to enhancing UN conflict resolution capabilities

Accurate video object tracking using a region-based particle filter

Usually, in particle filters applied to video tracking, a simple geometrical shape, typically an ellipse, is used in order to bound the object being tracked. Although it is a good tracker, it tends to a bad object representation, as most of the world objects are not simple geometrical shapes. A better way to represent the object is by using a region-based approach, such as the Region Based Particle Filter (RBPF). This method exploits a hierarchical region based representation associated with images to tackle both problems at the same time: tracking and video object segmentation. By means of RBPF the object segmentation is resolved with high accuracy, but new problems arise. The object representation is now based on image partitions instead of pixels. This means that the amount of possible combinations has now decreased, which is computationally good, but an error on the regions taken for the object representation leads to a higher estimation error than methods working at pixel level. On the other hand, if the level of regions detail in the partition is high, the estimation of the object turns to be very noisy, making it hard to accurately propagate the object segmentation. In this thesis we present new tools to the existing RBPF. These tools are focused on increasing the RBPF performance by means of guiding the particles towards a good solution while maintaining a particle filter approach. The concept of hierarchical flow is presented and exploited, a Bayesian estimation is used in order to assign probabilities of being object or background to each region, and the reduction, in an intelligent way, of the solution space , to increase the RBPF robustness while reducing computational effort. Also changes on the already proposed co-clustering in the RBPF approach are proposed. Finally, we present results on the recently presented DAVIS database. This database comprises 50 High Definition video sequences representing several challenging situations. By using this dataset, we compare the RBPF with other state-ofthe- art methods

Architects need environmental feedback

The role of environmental feedback within architects' offices is examined as a fundamental ingredient of sustainability. Three case study buildings are examined using a feedback exercise encompassing the whole building process from early key design decisions to occupation. Results show that sometimes design decisions are taken for aesthetic reasons without certainty on their environmental impact. Improvements are possible especially in energy consumption, glare, the usability of controls, the communication of strategies and comfort conditions. The architects report the feedback lessons relevant for their work. A systematic approach to project feedback is proposed with emphasis in feeding forward to new projects and recording decision-making. To close the information loop, briefs need explicitly to mention performance targets for energy use, management expectations, control requirements and to promote feedback itself

Proposal for a contents design of a graphic engineering lecture

In this project the subject of Industrial Design from the bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technologies and Economic Analysis of the ETSEIB is reviewed considering the contents and the teaching and evaluating methods. To acquire a great level and teach the subject with great quality, this project has been developed in order to grant that some of the best methods are used to teach and evaluate the students. The contents have also been reviewed to certify that a similar structure of contents is being followed the same way as some of the more relevant engineering schools. As this subject is part of the bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technologies and Economic Analysis, some of the subjects of the bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technologies, which is another degree from the ETSEIB, are used to compare and conclude the methods that could be used to benefit the subject. This has been done since these subjects have been used as a background to develop the contents and the organization of the Industrial Design subject. Research on some of the most relevant engineering schools in the world and in similar subjects such as Graphical Expression or Computer Aided Design has been done. This has determined the differences between the relevant and prestigious schools and the subjects of Graphical Expression or CAD. Once these different methods have been identified, they are considered to be applied to the organization of the subject, as a proposal, in order to enhance its quality and its reputation. To define which universities are better and more adequate for this project, some crucial facts have been used to reduce the research to a more specific group of engineering schools. The idea behind this project is to be able to clarify and help achieving a greater quality in the subject by reviewing some of the most relevant industrial design schools worldwide to apply some of the ways that they use to achieve such quality and reputation

The European Space of Higher Education: Incentive and Governance Issues

This lecture offers thoughts on some issues concerning the effective development of the European space of higher education currently being pushed by the twin forces of the Bologna process and the Lisbon declaration of the EU. It is pointed out that the USA example is a good reference point but cannot be imitated mechanically, given the more segmented reality of Europe. It is noted that the European space could develop first at the graduate level and that the competition for students through reputation effects may play an essential role. The significance of policy initiatives for promoting reform is emphasized. Finally, matters of governance and of incentives (including tenure) are identified as key factors of reform