14 research outputs found
A Paradigm Shift: Supply Chain Collaboration and Competition in and between Europe’s Chemical Clusters
With the attention of the chemical industry
focused on exploiting the low cost
feedstocks in the Middle East and the
growth markets of Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South East Asia, this report
provides a timely reminder to policy
makers, chemical companies and logistics
service providers of the significant
opportunities for improving business
potential in Europe’s chemical clusters.
Europe is still the largest, most sophisticated
global market for chemical products,
with a well developed, efficient,
highly productive asset base, sound
infrastructure, leading edge research and
development and significant purchasing
power. Provided these advantages are
sustained, including continued attention
to asset maintenance and operational
and supply chain improvements, Europe
can remain a competitive force in the
global market place, despite what the
doom-mongers may say to the contrary. ..
Exact and approximation algorithms for the operational fixed interval scheduling problem
The Operational Fixed Interval Scheduling Problem (OFISP) is characterized as the problem of scheduling a number of jobs, each with a fixed starting time, a fixed finishing time, a priority index, and a job class. The objective is to find an assignment of jobs to machines with maximal total priority. The problem is complicated by the restrictions that: (i) each machine can handle only one job at a time, (ii) each machine can handle only jobs from a prespecified subset of all possible job classes, and (iii) preemption is not allowed. It follows from the above that OFISP has both the character of a job scheduling problem and the character of an assignment problem. In this paper we discuss the occurrence of the problem in practice, and we present newly developed exact and approximation algorithms for solving OFISP. Finally, some computational results are shown
Dataset of the Refrigerator Case: design of closed loop supply chains
This paper contains the dataset for the refrigerator case concerning the design of a production and return network for refrigerators. Section 1 emphasises the major changes to the problem structure and assumptions used by Umeda et al. (1999). Section 2 contains the parameter settings. Section 3 contains the distance matrix for all locations
Design of Closed Loop Supply Chains
Increased concern for the environment has lead to new techniques to design products and supply chains that are both economically and ecologically feasible. This paper deals with the product - and corresponding supply chain design for a refrigerator. Literature study shows that there are many models to support product design and logistics separately, but not in an integrated way. In our research we develop quantitative modelling to support an optimal design structure of a product, i.e. modularity, repairability, recyclability, as well as the optimal locations and goods flows allocation in the logistics system. Environmental impacts are
Maximizing remanufacturing profit using product acquisition management
The profitability of remanufacturing depends on the quantity and quality of product returns and on the demand for remanufactured products. The quantity and quality of product returns can be influenced by varying quality dependent acquisition prices, i.e., by using product acquisition management. Demand can be influenced by varying the selling price. We develop a framework for determining the optimal prices and the corresponding profitability
Do Optimization Models for Humanitarian Operations Need a Paradigm Shift?
Optimization approaches for planning and routing of humanitarian field operations have been studied intensively. Yet, their adoption in practice remains scant. This opinion paper argues that effectiveness increase realized by such approaches can be marginal due to triviality of planning problems, external constraints, and information losses. Cost increases, on the other hand, can be substantial. These include costs of implementation and use, data gathering, and mismatches with organizational cultures. Though such costs are a key concern for humanitarian organizations, OR/MS studies typically consider effectiveness measures only. We argue a paradigm shift towards cost-effectiveness maximization and increasing the strength of the presented evidence is needed and discuss corresponding future research needs
Strategic Issues in Product Recovery Management
This article examines strategic production and operations management issues in product recovery management (PRM). PRM encompasses the management of all used and discarded products, components, and materials for which a manufacturing company is legally, contractually, or otherwise responsible. The objective of PRM is to recover as much of the economic (and ecological) value of used and discarded products, components, and materials as reasonably possible, thereby reducing the ultimate quantities of waste to a minimum. This article also discusses the relevance of PRM to durable products manufacturers. It contains a categorization of PRM decisions. A case study based on the PRM system of a multinational copier manufacturer is presented to illustrate a set of specific production and operations management issues. The experiences of two other pro-active manufacturers (BMW and IBM) are also discusse
Planning the Size and Organization of KLM's Aircraft Maintenance Personnel
Develops a decision support system (DSS) for the aircraft maintenance department of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Tasks of the department; Support provided by the DSS to management; Analyzing several capacity planning problems related to the size and the organization of the workforce
Site Visit Frequency Policies for Mobile Family Planning Services
Improving access to family planning services is key to achieving many of the United
Nations sustainable development goals. To scale up access in remote areas and urban slums,
many developing countries deploy mobile family planning teams that visit “outreach sites”
several times per year. Visit frequencies have a significant effect on the total number of clients
served and hence the impact of the outreach program. Using a large dataset of visits in
Madagascar, Uganda and Zimbabwe, our study models the relationship between the number
of clients seen during a visit and the time since the last visit and uses this model to analyse
the characteristics of optimal frequencies. We use the latter to develop simple frequency
policies for practical use, prove bounds on the worst-case optimality gap, and test the impact
of the policies with a simulation model. Our main finding is that despite the complexity of the
frequency optimisation problem, simple policies yield near-optimal results. This holds even
when few data are available and when the relationship between client volume and the time
since the last visit is misspecified or substantially biased. The simulation for Uganda shows a
potential increase in client numbers of between 7% and 10%, which corresponds to more than
12,000 additional families to whom family planning services could be provided.
Quantitative models for reverse logistics
This article surveys the recently emerged field of reverse logistics. The management of return flows induced by the various forms of reuse of products and materials in industrial production processes has received growing attentio