Closed-loop supply chains: What reverse logistics factors influence performance?

This paper analyses the inventory and order flow dynamics in closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs). In this kind of supply chains the reverse flow of materials entering the system for recycling purposes complicates the way in which inventories should be managed and replenishment policies should be designed. Specifically, we analyse the relationships between some reverse logistics' factors (remanufacturing lead-time, return rate of recycled products, reverse order policy, and number of supply chain tiers) on the order and inventory variance amplification. We firstly perform a systematic literature review of the related studies. Secondly, by adopting a difference equation math approach and design of experiment we perform a robust what-if analysis of a CLSC under a variety of operational and market conditions. Results show that, ceteris paribus, CLSC outperforms a forward supply chain, both in mono-echelon and multi-echelon structures and under both stationary and turbulent market demands. Furthermore, reducing remanufacturing lead-time and promoting information transparency may be crucial to improve CLSC dynamics. Finally, we use the research findings to provide interesting managerial consideration about how to reduce unnecessary operational members' costs

On the bullwhip avoidance phase: the synchronized supply chain

The aim of this paper is to analyse the operational response of a Synchronised Supply Chain (SSC). To do so, first a new mathematical model of a SSC is presented. An exhaustive Latin Square design of experi- ments is adopted in order to perform a boundary variation analysis of the main three parameters of the periodic review smoothing (S,R) order-up-to policy: i.e., lead time, demand smoothing forecasting factor, and proportional controller of the replenishment rule. The model is then evaluated under a variety of performance measures based on internal process benefits and customer benefits. The main results of the analysis are: (I) SSC responds to violent changes in demand by resolving bullwhip effect and by creating stability in inventories under different parameter settings and (II) in a SSC, long production\u2013 distribution lead times could significantly affect customer service level. Both results have important consequences for the design and operation of supply chains

The effect of inventory record inaccuracy in information exchange supply chains

The goal of this paper is to quantify the impact of Inventory Record Inaccuracy on the dynamics of collaborative supply chains, both in terms of operational performance (i.e. order and inventory stability), and customer service level. To do so, we model an Information Exchange Supply Chain under shrinkage errors in the inventory item recording activity of their nodes, present the mathematical formulation of such supply chain model, and conduct a numerical simulation assuming different levels of errors. Results clearly show that Inventory Record Inaccuracy strongly compromises supply chain stability, particularly when moving upwards in the supply chain. Important managerial insights can be extracted from this analysis, such as the role of 'benefit-sharing' strategies in order to guarantee the advantage of investments in connectivity technologies

A scheduling theory framework for GPU tasks efficient execution

Concurrent execution of tasks in GPUs can reduce the computation time of a workload by overlapping data transfer and execution commands. However it is difficult to implement an efficient run- time scheduler that minimizes the workload makespan as many execution orderings should be evaluated. In this paper, we employ scheduling theory to build a model that takes into account the device capabili- ties, workload characteristics, constraints and objec- tive functions. In our model, GPU tasks schedul- ing is reformulated as a flow shop scheduling prob- lem, which allow us to apply and compare well known methods already developed in the operations research field. In addition we develop a new heuristic, specif- ically focused on executing GPU commands, that achieves better scheduling results than previous tech- niques. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation, showing the suitability and robustness of this new approach, is conducted in three different NVIDIA architectures (Kepler, Maxwell and Pascal).Proyecto TIN2016- 0920R, Universidad de Málaga (Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech) y programa de donación de NVIDIA Corporation

Guidelines for the deployment and implementation of manufacturing scheduling systems

It has frequently been stated that there exists a gap between production scheduling theory and practice. In order to put theoretical findings into practice, advances in scheduling models and solution procedures should be embedded into a piece of software - a scheduling system - in companies. This results in a process that entails (1) determining its functional features, and (2) adopting a successful strategy for its development and deployment. In this paper we address the latter question and review the related literature in order to identify descriptions and recommendations of the main aspects to be taken into account when developing such systems. These issues are then discussed and classified, resulting in a set of guidelines that can help practitioners during the process of developing and deploying a scheduling system. 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Partial/Asymmetrical Information sharing in Supply Chain: A bibliometric analysis

The importance of Information Sharing (IS) between an enterprise and its customers or cooperating companies has been long recognized in Supply Chain (SC) research literature. In this paper we perform an exploratory analysis of the current state-of-art and challenges in the field of partial/asymmetrical IS in SC. To fulfil our objective we carry out a bibliometric analysis by adopting BibExcel and Gephi tools. We identify 115 articles and generate several co-citation maps. Our results show that the concepts of partial and asymmetrical IS in SCs are not well defined in literature

An efficient constructive heuristic for flowtime minimisation in permutation flow shops

In this paper, we propose a heuristic for mean/total flowtime minimisation in permutation flow shops. The heuristic exploits the idea of 'optimising' partial schedules, already present in the NEH-heuristic (Omega 11 (1983) 91) with respect to makespan minimisation. We compare the proposed heuristic against the ones by Rajendran and Ziegler (Eur. J. Oper. Res. 32 (1994) 2541), and Woo and Yim (Comput. Oper. Res. 25 (1998) 175), which are considered the best constructive heuristics for flowtime minimisation so far. The computational experiments carried out show that our proposal outperforms both heuristics with respect to the quality of the solutions. Moreover, our heuristic can be embedded in an improvement scheme to build a composite heuristic in the manner suggested by Allahverdi and Aldowaisan (Int. J. Prod. Econom. 77 (2002) 71) for the flowtime minimisation problem. The so-constructed composite heuristic also improves the best results obtained by the original composite heuristics by Allahverdi and Aldowaisan.Flow shop Sequencing Heuristics Flowtime