Seaport Management Aspects and Perspectives: an Overview

Ireland occupies the northern part of the western European coast which has a 70,000 Kilometres coasting along two oceans and four seas. These coasts are Europe’s lifeblood and represent the trade routes, climate regulator and source of food, energy and resources. Seaports and shipping are key maritime activities which allow European coast countries to benefit from the rapid growth of international trade. Therefore, port management became the centre of governments’ interest and the focal point of research to improve the efficiency. This research aims to summaries past publications of seaport systems to highlight challenges and reveal relevant research gaps. Having the objective to classify the literature, a comprehensive review of journal articles and the best practices in the field was conducted. A wide variety of management issues and opportunities to improve service delivery of port systems was discussed in a three main categories based on port authority objectives; strategic, economic and operational

An Integrated Framework to Assess ‘Leanness’ Performance in Distribution Centres

The theory behind lean philosophy is to create more value with less. Effective lean management enables organisations to exceed customer expectations while reducing costs. Despite the fact that numerous practices and approaches are used in the process of implementing lean philosophy and reducing waste within supply chain systems, little effort has been directed into assessing the leanness level of distribution and its impact on overall performance. Given the vital role of distribution units within supply chains, this research aims to develop a comprehensive lean assessment framework that integrates a selected set of statistical, analytical, and mathematical techniques in order to assess the ‘leanness’ level in the distribution business. Due to the limited number of published articles in the area of lean distribution, there are no clear definitions of the underlying factors and practices. Therefore, the primary phase of the proposed framework addresses the identification of lean distribution dimensional structure and practices. The other two phases of the framework discuss the development of a structured model for lean distribution and address the process to find a quantitative lean index for benchmarking lean implementation in distribution centres. Integrating the three phases provides the decision makers with an indicator of performance, subject to applying various lean practices. Incorporating the findings of a survey that sent to 700 distribution businesses in Ireland along with value stream mapping, modelling, simulation, and data envelopment analysis, has given the framework strength in the assessment of leanness. Research outcomes show that lean distribution consists of five key dimensions; workforce management, item replenishment, customers, transportation, and process quality. Lean practices associated with these dimensions are mainly focused on enhancing the communication channels with customers, simplifying the distribution networks structure, people participating in problem solving and a continuous improvement process, and increasing the reliability and efficiency of the distribution operations. The final output of the framework is two key leanness indices; one is set to measure the tactical leanness level, while the second index represents the leanness at the operational level. Both indices can effectively be used in evaluating the lean implementation process and conducting a benchmarking process based on the leanness level

Analysing Supply Chain Resilience: Integrating the Constructs in a Concept Mapping Framework Via a Systematic Literature Review

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the concept of supply chain resilience (SCRES) using a concept mapping framework to seek conceptual clarity, with an emphasis on SCRES definitions, essential capabilities, elements and managerial practices. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was conducted of 103 peer-reviewed journal articles covering the period from 2000 to 2015, with the aim to identify supply chain resilience concept. Findings: Through analysis and synthesis of the literature, the study revealed three major constructs used to define resilience in supply chain: SCRES phases, strategies, and capabilities. The study has addressed five core resilience capabilities: the ability to anticipate, to adapt, to respond, to recover, and to learn. The study has also identified 13 essential elements and several managerial practices that support firms to acquire the five capabilities. The studied capabilities are then linked with supply chain resilient phases and strategies in order to establish an integrated view of the concept. Research limitations/implications: The explorative nature of this study and the role of the concept mapping framework, which does not empirically test the relationships in the model, are considered as limitations, to be addressed by the authors in future research. Originality/value: The originality of this paper lies in the classification of different features of SCRES through a comprehensive concept mapping framework that establishes relationships and interactions between them. This study, therefore, lays a foundation for testing these connections in future empirical studies. The article brings together fragmented literature from multiple studies to create a solid body of knowledge that addresses the need for conceptual clarity in SCRES literature

Simulation-based Scenario Mapping Model to investigate Post-Brexit Implications on the Irish Beef Export Sector: A Case Study

Purpose Brexit introduced a range of new tariffs and non-tariff barriers that will significantly disrupt Irish beef exports, particularly to the UK market. Firms should be able to accurately anticipate the adverse effects of Brexit trade barriers on the flow of their products and change their practices accordingly. This research introduces a scenario planning solution based on a process simulation technology to investigate the implication of Brexit risks on Irish beef export performance. Scenarios implications on the transportation time and shelf-life of Irish meat exports to the UK market are investigated. Research Approach An agent-based and discrete event simulation model based on a geographic information system (GIS) map were applied. The simulation model focuses on Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro/Ro) maritime transport connectivity between Ireland, the UK, and other EU member states. The agent-based modelling is used for communication between the main four model entities (products, trucks, vessels, and ports). On the other hand, discrete event modelling is applied for sequencing the procedures inside the different agents. Findings and Originality The research outcomes suggest that beef supply chains and product flow between Ireland and the UK should not be interrupted post-Brexit. It is recommended that the Irish Government explore mitigation strategies for border check disruptions in this regard with EU26 and UK authorities. A lack of communication between the revenue authorities in Ireland and the UK will be a real challenge for the beef export business. It was also recommended that a robust direct shipping service to mainland Europe is essential to avoid the UK Land-bridge uncertainty. Research Impact Using simulation to model transportation systems and investigate business decisions added a new perspective on how business analytics can inform the pre-disruption phase of building supply chain resilience. Using modelling and simulation in the context of geopolitical disruption and supply chain resilience has rarely been presented in the literature. Practical Impact The research provided the Irish meat exporters and supply chain practitioners with a scenario mapping solution to anticipate Brexit implications and inform potential mitigation and responding strategies. The article has also highlighted the severe implications of geopolitical disruptions on supply chains. Keywords Supply Chain Resilience, Modelling & Simulation, Post-Brexit Implications, Beef Supply Chain

Hybrid Modelling for Vineyard Harvesting Operations

Hiring workers under seasonal recruiting contracts causes significant variation of workers skills in the vineyards. This leads to inconsistent workers performance, reduction in harvesting efficiency, and increasing in grape losses rates. The objective of this research is to investigate how the variation in workers experience could impact vineyard harvesting productivity and operational cost. The complexity of the problem means that it is difficult to analyze the system parameters and their relationships using individual analytical model. Hence, a hybrid model integrating discrete event simulation (DES) and agent based modeling (ABM) is developed and applied on a vineyard to achieve research objective. DES models harvesting operation and simulates process performance, while ABM addresses the seasonal workers heterogeneous characteristics, particularly experience variations and disparity of working days in the vineyard. The model is used to evaluate two seasonal recruiting policies against vineyard productivity, grape losses quantities, and total operational cost

Seasonal recruiting policies for table grape packing operations: A hybrid simulation modelling study

The packing process is a critical post-harvesting activity in table grape industry. Workers in packing stations are hired under seasonal contracts because of product seasonality and operations labor intensity. Seasonal workers, however, are usually characterized by inconsistent performance, high turnover and experience variation which leads to low productivity and high waste. Few mathematical models were used for evaluating fresh products packing operations, but in a deterministic nature which hinders the complexity and dynamics of the business processes. Hence, a hybrid Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) are employed to evaluate a set of seasonal recruiting policies in a large grape packing station. The paper aims to investigate the impact of workers experience on packing operations efficiency. The model outcomes demonstrate the improvement in operations efficiency and total running cost (about 20% savings) that can be achieved when applying optimal recruiting policies that reduce labors variations

TDABC Capabilities for performance measurement: A case study in a manufacturing context

Supply chain costing presents a sophisticated alternative to traditional costing allowing an accurate cost estimation and effective decision making. In exploring different techniques, TDABC was not explored extensively compared to its peers. In addition to the infancy of the technique, there is an on-going debate about the capability of the TDABC specifically in manufacturing context. The present study contributes to the debate by applying TDABC at the logistics function of a manufacturing site and assesses it capability to measure performance in the stated context

Operationalizing Learning from Rare Events: Framework for Middle Humanitarian Operations Managers

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the learning from rare events and the knowledge management processinvolved, which presents a significant challenge to many organizations. This is primarily attributed to the inability tointerpret these events in a systematic and “rich” manner, which this paper seeks to address. We start by summarizing therelevant literature on humanitarian operations management (HOM), outlining the evolution of the socio-technical disasterlifecycle and its relationship with humanitarian operations, using a supply chain resilience theoretical lens. We then out-line theories of organizational learning (and unlearning) from disasters and the impact on humanitarian operations. Subse-quently, we theorize the role of middle managers in humanitarian operations, which is the main focus of our paper. Themain methodology incorporates a hybrid of two techniques for root cause analysis, applied to two related case studies.The cases were specifically selected as, despite occurring twenty years apart, there are many similarities in the chain ofcausation and supporting factors, potentially suggesting that adequate learning from experience and failures is not occur-ring. This provides a novel learning experience within the HOM paradigm. Hence, the proposed approach is based on amultilevel structure that facilitates the operationalization of learning from rare events in humanitarian operations. Theresults show that we are able to provide an environment for multiple interpretations and effective learning, with emphasison middle managers within a humanitarian operations and crisis/disaster management context

Hybrid modeling for vineyard harvesting operations

Hiring workers under seasonal recruiting contracts causes significant variation of workers skills in the vineyards. This leads to inconsistent workers performance, reduction in harvesting efficiency, and increasing in grape losses rates. The objective of this research is to investigate how the variation in workers experience could impact vineyard harvesting productivity and operational cost. The complexity of the problem means that it is difficult to analyze the system parameters and their relationships using individual analytical model. Hence, a hybrid model integrating discrete event simulation (DES) and agent based modeling (ABM) is developed and applied on a vineyard to achieve research objective. DES models harvesting operation and simulates process performance, while ABM addresses the seasonal workers heterogeneous characteristics, particularly experience variations and disparity of working days in the vineyard. The model is used to evaluate two seasonal recruiting policies against vineyard productivity, grape losses quantities, and total operational cost