考虑环保标签和利他偏好的绿色供应链决策研究

目的 考虑消费者对环保标签的信任度和绿色意识,探究利他偏好对制造商和零售商决策的影响。方法 构建由生产自贴环保标签型绿色产品制造商和零售商组成的Stackelberg博弈模型,分析制造商利他偏好的作用机制,然后采用数值分析方法对决策结果进行对比。结论 消费者对环保标签信任度的提升和制造商利他偏好的增强有助于提升绿色努力水平和绿色供应链总利润;当制造商利他偏好强度过大时,制造商的利润会随着消费者信任度的增加而减少,可能出现负值,引起供应链失衡;制造商利他偏好强度和消费者信任度越大,对制造商效用的提升效果越明显。     

Procurement decisions and information sharing under multi-tier disruption risk in a supply chain

We consider a manufacturer's procurement decision in a three-tier supply chain (SC) under disruption risk. The manufacturer sources components from a single first-tier supplier (FT). The FT, in turn, sources raw materials from a single second-tier supplier (ST). Suppliers in both tiers are unreliable, i.e. prone to disruption risk. Increasing SC visibility through information sharing is a potential disruption management strategy for the manufacturer. While the manufacturer can obtain disruption risk information for the FT, disruption risk information for the ST is not easily accessible to the manufacturer except through the FT, who may not be willing to share ST information. We study different mechanisms under which the manufacturer can obtain ST information, and its impact on manufacturer's and FT's decisions and potential profits. We show that information sharing makes the manufacturer's procurement decisions more conservative, i.e. carrying more inventories, but the FT's procurement decision is contingent on the ST's reliability; more proactive (conservative) when ST is unreliable (reliable), i.e. carrying less (more) inventories. We demonstrate that there are two ways to induce the FT to share its information, and numerically show that their effectiveness is contingent on multiple factors, including FT and ST reliabilities and information sharing costs.     

Incentives for quality improvement efforts coordination in supply chains with partial cost allocation contract

In this paper, we consider quality improvement efforts coordination in a two-stage decentralised supply chain with a partial cost allocation contract. The supply chain consists of one supplier and one manufacturer, both of which produce defective products. Two kinds of failure cost occur within the supply chain: internal and external. The supplier and the manufacturer determine their individual quality levels to maximise their own profits. We propose a partial cost allocation contract, under which the external failure cost is allocated between the manufacturer and the supplier at different rates based on information derived from failure root cause analysis. If the quality levels of the supplier and the manufacturer are observable, we show that the partial cost allocation contract coordinates the supply chain, provided that the failure root cause analysis does not erroneously identify the manufacturer’s fault as the supplier’s, and the supplier does not take responsibility for the manufacture’s fault. In the single moral hazard model, where only the quality level of the supplier is unobservable, the optimal share rates require the supplier to take some responsibility for the manufacture’s fault. However, in the double moral hazard model, where quality levels of the supplier and the manufacturer are unobservable to each other, the optimal share rates require the supplier not to take responsibility for the manufacturer’s fault. It is noted that the root cause analysis conducted by the manufacturer may have its disadvantage in attributing the fault to the supplier when both sides are at fault. We also propose a contract based on the dual root cause analysis to reduce the supplier’s penalty cost. Numerical results illustrate that the partial cost allocation contract satisfies the fairness criterion compared with the traditional cost allocation contract.     

Optimal acquisition policy with quantity discounts and uncertain demands

We study the acquisition policy decision problem for a supply network involving one manufacturer and multiple suppliers. The manufacturer produces multiple products under uncertain demands and each supplier provides price discounts. The problem is to determine the manufacturer's acquisition policy and production levels so as to maximise the manufacturer's expected profit, subject to both the manufacturer's and suppliers’ capacities. We present a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) formulation of the problem, for both single- and multiple-sourcing procurement policies. General algebraic modeling system (GAMS) and its solvers, combining external integration functions, are employed to solve the complex MINLP problem. The preliminary computation results and managerial analysis are reported.     

Managing children's risk of injury in the home: Does parental teaching about home safety reduce young children's hazard interactions?

Past research confirms that parents extend much effort to teach their young children about safety, but little is known about this process. The present study examined mothers’ use of teaching as a strategy to manage young children's risk of home injury and how this impacts children's hazard interactions. Mothers of three-year-olds completed an in-home room-by-room interview in which they identified injury hazards that concern them, reported on use of teaching to manage risk of injury from these hazards, rated children's understanding of these safety issues and compliance with behavioral guidelines regarding these safety issues, and reported on children's recent interactions with these hazards. They also completed questionnaire measures of how difficult the child is to manage and the child's typical level of risk taking. Results revealed that children's understanding of safety impacted both their compliance and hazard interactions, moderating the impact of risk taking on compliance and also the impact of children's difficult-to-manage score on hazard interactions. These findings demonstrate that teaching strategies need to effectively enhance children's understanding of the safety issue in order to reduce children's risk of hazard interactions.     

The optimal consignment policy for the manufacturer under supply chain co-ordination

This study analyses an optimal consignment policy comprising a fixed fee and a per-unit commission. The manufacturer has to offer its retailers a mutually beneficial consignment scheme that affects the whole supply-chain performance. The focus is on determining the optimal consignment policy for a manufacturer and the resulting supply-chain coordination. Without loss of generality, an analytical model is developed with a closed-form solution, enabling analysis of the performance of a consignment policy. The theoretical analysis shows that the consignment with the highest supply-chain profits depends on a fixed fee and a per-unit commission. The analysis also demonstrates that a consignment policy not only generates a higher manufacturer's profit than the traditional system, but also coordinates the retailer to achieve a large supply-chain profit. As the demand is sensitive to the markdown, the consignment policy becomes more efficient, and the manufacturer's realized profit increases.     

Manufacturer's declarations for harmonised construction products

After the judgement of the ECJ in case C‐100/13 from 16 October 2014, no additional national requirements may be issued for construction products with CE‐marking. In order to implement the community requirements in Germany, the Model Building Code was revised by decision of the state building ministers conference of 13 May 2016 and is presently being implemented by the federal states through revisions of the relevant state building codes. Instead of the Construction Products List and the list of technical building rules, the standardised sample administrative regulation ”Technische Baubestimmungen“ (technical building rules, VV TB) has now become valid, which was published on 01 September 2017 by the German institute for building technology, DIBt. One alternative possibility for the verification of suitability for construction is a manufacturer's declaration based on a requirement document. In this case the requirement document reflects the technical requirements according to standards for the construction product or building type, the fulfilment of which is guaranteed for the specific product in the manufacturer's declaration of the relevant manufacturer. The manufacturer thus accepts liability that his product fulfils the legal requirements. This guarantee declaration under civil law as a supplement to the public building law conforms to European law and is a transparent and practical solution to be able to ensure the achieved level of health protection, environmental acceptability and safety in building practice.     

A feature fatigue supply chain game with cooperative programs and ad-hoc facilitators

In this paper, we analyze a manufacturer's decisions to invest in technology to increase the number of product features and make its business more economically appealing. High number of features can lead to an overspecified product that entails a feature fatigue effect. More specifically, consumers show a decreasing willingness to purchase a good, due to its complexity. The manufacturer sells through a retailer, which in turn invests in some store facilitators efforts. The manufacturer can decrease the feature fatigue effect by implementing either a cooperative program or an ad-hoc facilitator. Our results reveal that the manufacturer, as the chain leader, makes decisions according to the program's efficiency, while considering the revenue sharing rule. When the share is low, the manufacturer's decision is always based on efficiency; otherwise, high sharing parameters sponsor the implementation of an ad-hoc facilitator. We identify a region of parameters in which firms have divergent preferences, resulting that the feature fatigue mitigation is a short term objective. The results also reveal a trade-off between profits and feature fatigue. An ad-hoc facilitator guarantees large profits, even without fully solving the feature fatigue issue. Instead, a support program increases mitigates the feature fatigue effect, while worsening the firms' profits.     

Implications of product upgrading confronting supplier remanufacturing

It is generally believed that new products upgrading is an effective strategy to deal with the cannibalisation problem from remanufacturing, however, it is not clear how the new product upgrading strategy affect the decision-making of the downstream manufacturer and the upstream supplier. By examining the relationship between supplier remanufacturing profits and product cannibalisation, we develop two models to investigate the implications of the manufacturer's product upgrading confronting supplier remanufacturing. The results show that an product upgrading strategy can effectively enhance the manufacturer's profits if the investment cost is relatively low. Although the product upgrading strategy may hinder the remanufacturing operations, it will always be beneficial for the wholesaling of the supplier's new products. Therefore, the upgrading strategy can mitigate cannibalisation problems and create an optimal pareto improvement for both parties. Finally, we conduct a data analysis to provide additional managerial insights regarding the supply chain.     

Master production schedule time interval strategies in make-to-order supply chains¶

While the literature primarily addresses MPS design from the manufacturer's perspective, this research considers MPS policy design in a two-stage rolling schedule environment with a particular focus on the policy governing schedule flexibility in the non-frozen time interval (i.e. liquid versus slushy orders). Using computer simulation, we experimentally evaluate the impact of four MPS design factors (non-frozen interval policy, planning horizon length, frozen interval length and re-planning frequency) and four environmental factors (natural order cycle length, vendor flexibility, demand range and demand lumpiness) on MPS schedule cost and instability. The experimental design considers the often-conflicting impact of MPS policy on the channel members by capturing performance metrics at the manufacturer, vendor and system level. The research findings indicate that moving from a liquid to a slushy non-interval strategy increases the manufacturer's costs, but may result in an even greater cost reduction for the vendor resulting in lower system costs. The economic benefit of the slushy strategy is directly tied to the vendor's relative flexibility in responding to the manufacturer's orders on a lot-for-lot basis. High vendor flexibility favours the liquid strategy, while low vendor flexibility favours the slushy strategy.     

Manufacturer's product choice in the presence of environment-conscious consumers: brown product or green product

Nowadays, the brown products are losing market coverage to their green alternatives due to consumers' increasing environmental awareness. Confronted with this threat, many traditional manufacturers currently producing only brown product are contemplating the launch of green product. Base on this background, this paper explores the optimal product choice for the manufacturer. We first derive the optimal results for each product choice. Then we analyse the optimal product choice for the manufacturer. Next, we study how to induce the production of green product. Finally, the fraudulent behaviour on product's environmental attributes is addressed. Main findings are as follows. First, manufacturer's optimal product choice is to produce green product if the investment-to-value ratio and the unit production cost for green product are low and to produce brown product if the investment-to-value ratio and the unit production cost for green product are high. Second, the two-part tariff contract is applicable to stimulate the manufacturer to produce green product under certain conditions. While exterior intervention is necessary under other conditions. Third, when the manufacturer and the retailer diverge in product preference, the manufacturer has a strong incentive to behave fraudulently, and this type of manufacturer needs strict supervision.     

A postponement model to determine the customisation degree applied to the notebook computer industry

Facing an increasingly intense and competitive environment, the information industry must design a global service chain for its self-development and also to make its global development more efficient. The application of the postponement concept has become an efficient method to help enterprises reach this goal. With the aim of building and analysing a postponement structure from the viewpoint of added value and demand uncertainty, this study constructed a multi-objective postponement model. The model was then analysed, using three quantifying objects: the overall cost, product types and the average assembly time; and two decision variables: the variety of parts and inventory quantity. In an indeterminate function, both the application demanding frequency and demanded quantity submit to a Poisson distribution and Normal distribution. Considering the profit model, the manufacturer can decide on the most suitable degree of customisation according to market situations, suppliers at the time of production and most important, the manufacturer's profit. This study uses a notebook computer manufacturer as an example to carry out empirical analysis. The manufacturer was permitted to decide the optimal product types depending on its financial status. Postponement techniques were then provided as a reference to the manufacturer to help it maximise profits.     

High-integrity ferrous castings for steam turbines – aspects of their development and manufacture

Abstract

The past twenty to twenty–five years has been a period of considerable change for the foundry industry during which established practices and ingrained attitudes have required critical re–appraisal and occasionally drastic revision. The energy related industries, demanding higher quality components of proven integrity as service conditions have become progressively more exacting, have played an important role over this period as castings specifications have been subject to frequent revision to reflect changing requirements. Founders have been required to respond, first in order to exploit the buoyant market of the 1960's and early 1970's, and second to survive in the depressed international market of the late 1970's and early 1980's. This paper reviews developments in ferrous castings for large steam turbines during this period, and outlines the manner in which specifications for this type of casting have become progressively more stringent. The impact of these changes on the foundry industry is reviewed, and an outline is given of the response of one UK castings manufacturer to the challenge of competing in the international marketplace of the 1980's.

MST/164     

Optimal advertising outsourcing strategy with different effort levels and uncertain demand

This paper studies the issue of advertising outsourcing and production planning for a manufacturer facing asymmetric advertising cost and uncertain market demand. To improve product sales, a manufacturer would hire an advertising agency to provide professional service on product advertising before the production takes place. A contract taking into account both advertising effort level and payment is introduced to incentivize the advertising agency to report the exact cost to the manufacturer. Furthermore, a model with the goal of maximising the manufacturer's net profit is proposed, in which both product demand and payment to the advertising agency are affected by the advertising effort level. Analytical solutions of the optimal strategies including the optimal advertising effort level and the optimal payment to the advertising agency are derived. Optimal retail price and the optimal production quantity are also obtained for the manufacturer in making managerial decisions.     

儿童摇摇车安全性与舒适性的改进设计

目的提升儿童摇摇车在使用过程中的安全性和舒适性。方法通过研究摇摇车曲柄连杆机构的杆长条件、极位夹角与急回运动等影响因素,进行基于减小急回运动的安全设计;通过研究外观结构,进行摇摇车外观设计。结论减小急回运动能有效地解决摇摇车的安全隐患,通过机械设计、外观设计、儿童摇摇车的附加音乐设计等进一步提升了安全性与舒适性。     

Value-based contract for smart operation and maintenance service based on equitable entropy

Smart operation and maintenance (O&M) service is the major industrial service in Industry 4.0, but it's not easy for manufacturers to achieve high returns. Regularly manufacturers can't set a higher service price due to customer's perception of the service value; a new revenue model is urgently needed. In this study, we develop a value-based contract for smart O&M service based on equitable entropy. Firstly, we summarise the characteristics of smart O&M service's value creation and acquisition. And the service value is measured under the PaaS model by calculating the maximum revenue gap of the customer in the two cases of customer self-O&M and manufacturer's smart O&M service. Then a revenue-sharing model is built based on equitable entropy which the criterion is the valid data provided by each party. The results show that by signing a value-based contract, the smart O&M service can not only significantly improve the customer's revenue by downtime losses reduction and productivity improvement, but also create higher returns for the manufacturer. In addition, the fairest revenue sharing coefficient and relatively fair interval for revenue sharing decision can be accurately calculated by equitable entropy. These conclusions provide a theoretical basis for the manufacturer to better implement smart O&M service.     

Optimal replenishment cycle for perishable items facing demand uncertainty in a two-echelon inventory system

We consider a two-echelon supply chain with an upstream manufacturer and a downstream retailer for a single perishable product. The manufacturer processes raw materials into finished products, which are purchased by the retailer in each replenishment cycle. The raw materials of the manufacturer are highly perishable (i.e. perishing within hours or days), and the finished goods at the retailer face demand uncertainty and obsolescence. We model the manufacturer–retailer relationship as a Stackelberg game where the retailer is the leader and decides the replenishment cycle that minimises its mismatch cost between supply and uncertain demand. The manufacturer is the follower and decides its processing rate to minimise its unit cost for finished goods. Our results show that the raw material and finished goods lifetimes, which are interrelated through the duration of the replenishment cycle, have a significant impact on supply chain costs. Although raw material spoilage cost by itself is low, we show that short raw material lifetimes have a significant impact on the costs of both parties. Additionally, we find that while high manufacturer markups increase retailer costs, they reduce the manufacturer's costs due to large production batches.     

Safety rounds in public environments: experience of a new tool for prevention of accidental injuries

Accident prevention concerns everyone in society. A large number of organisations have the responsibility and the means to fight the increasing injury rate. Many preventive measures require changes and improvements to the physical environment. In Sollentuna, Sweden, the work concentrated on making inventories of the pedestrian physical environment and pressuring those responsible to take measures to correct deficiencies discovered through the municipal "safety round." The inventory of injury risk factors was documented in a report along with information about the type of risk-object, its geographical location, and those responsible for remedial measures. The environmental deficiencies were marked on a map and most of them were photographed. With the help of expert know-how and local knowledge, 88 risk factors were identified in the area of investigation, which covered slightly over 1 square kilometer. With the report as a basis, those responsible for countermeasures were contacted by letter and asked to take measures to eliminate the risk factors. The responsibility for eliminating these risk factors was divided among various authorities, organizations, and private persons. Despite a lack of legal support for the demand for countermeasures most of those responsible proved to have a positive attitude towards eliminating the accident risk factors that had been identified during the safety rounds. The method worked satisfactorily and the risk factors were eliminated after one or two contacts in almost all cases.     

Grandparents and child passenger safety

Purpose

This study compares child passenger safety (CPS) practices of grandparents versus parents and determines grandparents’ opinions on car safety seats (CSS), barriers to use, and ways to transport grandchildren safely.

Methods

Observational surveys were conducted on a convenience sample of drivers transporting children younger than sixteen years at 25 locations by certified child passenger safety technicians observing children in motor vehicles and recorded use of child passenger restraints. The drivers were surveyed on their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices regarding CPS. Data from drivers identifying themselves as grandparents were analyzed; also, three grandparent focus groups provided opinions on CPS practices.

Results

During the study 1758 parents transporting 2713 children and 284 grandparents transporting 391 grandchildren were included. While most drivers were restrained and used child occupant restraints, almost 25% of parents and grandparents chose the incorrect seat to transport the child, and greater than 68% had at least one harness error. Grandparents were more likely to have looser lower anchor straps or seat belts and have children younger than thirteen years in the front seat.The focus group-grandparents had a favorable attitude toward CSS. Grandparents acknowledged the need for CSS but opined that CSS were difficult to use. Physical barriers included arthritis, back pain, mobility, decreased strength, and vision problems.

Conclusions

Grandparents and parents were equally likely to use CSS and choose correct seats. Compared to parents, grandparents were more likely to travel with their grandchildren with CSS installed with looser harnesses or an installed CSS with looser seat belt or lower anchors. Additionally, grandparents were more likely to have a child younger than thirteen years in the front seat. The use of community resources such as permanent fitting stations could help grandparents improve a grandchild's travel safety.     

A time-based quantitative approach for selecting lean strategies for manufacturing organisations

Lean strategies have been developed to eliminate or reduce waste and thus improve operational efficiency in a manufacturing environment. However, in practice, manufacturers encounter difficulties to select appropriate lean strategies within their resource constraints and to quantitatively evaluate the perceived value of manufacturing waste reduction. This paper presents a methodology developed to quantitatively evaluate the contribution of lean strategies selected to reduce manufacturing wastes within the manufacturers’ resource (time) constraints. A mathematical model has been developed for evaluating the perceived value of lean strategies to manufacturing waste reduction and a step-by-step methodology is provided for selecting appropriate lean strategies to improve the manufacturing performance within their resource constraints. A computer program is developed in MATLAB for finding the optimum solution. With the help of a case study, the proposed methodology and developed model has been validated. A ‘lean strategy-wastes’ correlation matrix has been proposed to establish the relationship between the manufacturing wastes and lean strategies. Using the correlation matrix and applying the proposed methodology and developed mathematical model, authors came out with optimised perceived value of reduction of a manufacturer's wastes by implementing appropriate lean strategies within a manufacturer's resources constraints. Results also demonstrate that the perceived value of reduction of manufacturing wastes can significantly be changed based on policies and product strategy taken by a manufacturer. The proposed methodology can also be used in dynamic situations by changing the input in the programme developed in MATLAB. By identifying appropriate lean strategies for specific manufacturing wastes, a manufacturer can better prioritise implementation efforts and resources to maximise the success of implementing lean strategies in their organisation.