Supply chain management program first- and second-order effects model: a new strategic tool

Utilisation of supply chain management (SCM) strategies have an implicit objective of gaining an advantage over one’s business arena partners, whether they be competition or supply chain partners; an SCM-derived competitive advantage. A literature review accentuated four bases of strategic competition (cost-based, resource-based, time-based and knowledge-based), upon which, such an SCM-derived competitive advantage might be built. A Monash University qualitative research study found that the majority of small- to medium-sized firms have found this to be a risky and unprofitable endeavour. In response, this paper explores the four bases of strategic competition through an exemplary success case found within the Australian textiles, clothing and footwear (TCF) industry. The research raised a proposition stated as “effective supply chain management increases shareholder value (SHV).” An effective SCM program influences key success drivers (e.g. expenses, asset utilisation and process cycle time) available to it in a manner that maximises the firm’s competitive position, given its chosen strategy. This paper presents a first- to second-order SCM effects matrix model as a small step towards the mainstream achievement of current world-wide best SCM practice. The matrix can be utilised by individuals planning supply chain change processes or teams evaluating potential change initiatives within their supply chain operations. The substructure of the matrix is examination by isolating just the time-based strategic key success drivers, as found in the literature. The matrix’s utilisation methodology is detailed to enable its application by practitioners.     

Ontology-based semantic models for supply chain management

The efficiencies of supply chain management (SCM) are often impaired by inconsistent exchange and sharing of knowledge semantics among supply chain partners. To address this problem with semantic integration, this paper presents an approach to developing ontologies of supply chain management (Onto-SCM) as a common semantic model of the SCM domain. The Onto-SCM semantic model is constructed in a modular way in order to enhance its reusability and maintainability. The IDEF5 schematic language is employed to provide the graphical representation of Onto-SCM for intuitive communication between domain experts and users. Furthermore, Ontolingua is adopted to define formal semantics of Onto-SCM for effective knowledge interoperability. In addition, a case study of a printer supply chain is illustrated to demonstrate the proposed approach to semantic integration for SCM. Finally, a prototype is developed to support visualized knowledge modeling of the case system using the IDEF5 schematic language and to implement consistent knowledge transformation among heterogeneous applications in the supply chain.     

Developing an integrated inventory management model for multi-item multi-echelon supply chain

As the industrial environment becomes more competitive, supply chain management (SCM) has attained growing attention from practical and academic societies as a crucial discipline. Among the involved decisions in the field of SCM, integrated inventory management is addressed in this paper. In this regards, this paper proposes an integrated inventory management model within a multi-item, multi-echelon supply chain (SC). The considered SC comprises multiple agents in upper layers supplying those of lower layer to enhance flexibility of the SC. Furthermore, three inventory models are developed with respect to different layers of SC in an integrated manner, seeking to optimize total cost of the whole SC. Due to nonlinear structure of the proposed model; high level of computational complexity is resulted. To cope with the complexity of proposed model, a differential evolution algorithm is adopted. Conducted numerical results indicate validity of the developed algorithm.     

Simulation modeling for comparative evaluation of supply chain management strategies

Supply chain management (SCM) has become one of the most important strategies for achieving competitive advantage in different industries in the last decade. Researchers have investigated various processes in the planning and development of supply chains. However, increasing attention has been placed on performance, design and analysis of supply chain models. A supply chain is a complex model that is very difficult to analyze, in particular, with respect to performance. Simulation is one of the effective tools to evaluate the control mechanism for a supply chain. In this paper, five common supply chain models have been built and tested with the aid of simulation. Various performance measures such as transportation cost, resources utilization, inventory level, and order cycle time will be calculated for comparative indications. The methodology that is presented in this paper can be extended to any real life applications in SCM.     

A study of lead time variation impact on supply chain performance

Lead time (LT) is a core parameter that varies and affects all supply chain (SC) partners. LT uncertainty is known as a kind of supply uncertainty in the SC literature which attracts attention of many researchers. In this paper, impact of LT variability in a serially connected supply chain with 4 levels is investigated. The study includes two main stages: development of a structural model and testing the structural relations by using simulated data. Simulation makes it possible to remove effects of intervener variables in order to measure pure impact of LT uncertainty on SC. Regarding this matter, a structural relationship model with three hypotheses about direct and indirect impact of LT uncertainty on supply chain inventories have been developed. To test the proposed structural relations, simulated data were used. The results of the study show that by increasing the lead time variance, order variances increase while no impact on the bullwhip is observed, i.e. the order variances increase uniformly throughout the entire SC. Furthermore, results show that the increase in the lead time variance will lead to inventory fluctuations. One practical recommendation of this study is to apply an investment strategy to reduce the lead time uncertainty.     

Supply chain workflow modelling using XML-formatted modular petri nets

This paper presents a modelling methodology of a workflow system of operations in a supply chain (SC) aimed to improve, from the traditional method, the consistency and integrity of the workflow data being exchanged amongst business partners. In this research, an XML-supported modular petri net-based modelling technique is adopted for the representation of the local and global workflow of "practitioners" in a SC. After constructing a petri net, the model of workflow systems can be constructed, understood and analysed more easily. A modular compositional modelling method is adopted to fulfill the particular functional requirements of a collaborative modelling of dispersed business partners in an up-to-date globalised SC environment. Finally, the use of a widely adopted XML schema for data representation and standard interface and interconnection mechanisms development in a workflow model can further improve the model's overall flexibility and integrity.     

Supply chain focus dependent safety stock placement

Increasing globalization, growing product range diversity, and rising consumer awareness are making markets highly competitive, forcing supply chains to adapt constantly to different stimuli. Growing competition between supply chains (as well as players within them) is also warranting a priority for overall supply chain performance over the goals of individual players. It is now well established in the literature that, among the many order winners, both overall supply chain cost and responsiveness (i.e., supply chain lead time) are the most significant determinants of supply chain competitiveness. The literature, however, mostly focuses on supply chain cost minimization with rather simplistic treatment of responsiveness. By introducing the concept of a coefficient of inverse responsiveness (CIR), we facilitate efficient introduction of responsiveness related costs into the scheme of supply chain (SC) performance evaluation and/or optimization. Thus, our model aids supply chain managers in achieving better strategic fit between individual business unit strategies and overall supply chain requirements in terms of cost efficiency and responsiveness. In particular, it aids in strategic placement of safety stocks at different stages in the supply chain. Our model also offers managerial insights that help improve our intuitions into supply chain dynamics. The model is more suited for strategic SC alignment, for example, when dealing with product changeovers or introduction of new product, rather than for operational control.     

供应链协调机制研究现状及发展趋势

供应链是基于“竞争—合作—协调”机制的,协调是供应链稳定运行的基础。本文主要通过供应链成员间的信息共享和供应链契约两方面分析了供应链协调问题的研究现状,并提出了供应链协调研究的发展趋势。     

Beyond lean [supply chain management]

Ever increasing competition, progressive internationalisation, acquisition and mergers, and the dawn of supply chain management (SCM) into the mainstream of industrial thinking has broadened the mindset of management to appreciate that one has to think business-wide in order to really define a plan that will drive operations forward. SCM has emerged to demonstrate an answer to the need to bring demand- and supply-side management to fruition. The author investigates supply chain management resources and techniques.     

基于ASP平台的供应链协同运作模式研究

激烈的市场竞争环境给供应链管理模式下的制造企业提出了新的发展要求,供应链协同是改进消费者服务,减少库存,减少供应链成本,提升竞争力,提高消费者忠诚度的一条途径.为了实现供应链协同运作的目的,需要在跨平台、跨应用方面达成协同并实现协同管理.通过研究开发网络化制造环境下供应链协同的企业动态联盟运作模式,建立基于应用服务供应商(ASP)的供应链协同运作平台,实现集成企业中采购、库存生产计划等业务过程的管理协同和信息协同,增强对市场需求不确定性的快速反应能力,提高供应链的整体竞争力.     

Hybrid approach to distribution planning reflecting a stochastic supply chain

Today’s business environment is experiencing as a period of expansion and the globalization. Therefore, a distribution plan with low cost and high customer satisfaction in supply chain management (SCM) has been widely investigated. The purpose of this study is to establish optimal distribution planning in the supply chain. In this paper, a hybrid approach involving a genetic algorithm (GA) and simulation is presented to solve this problem. The GA is employed in order to quickly generate feasible distribution sequences. Considering uncertain factors such as queuing, breakdowns and repairing time in the supply chain, the simulation is used to minimize completion time for the distribution plan. The computational results for an example of a simple supply chain are given and discussed to validate the proposed approach. We obtained a more realistic distribution plan with optimal completion time by performing the iterative hybrid GA simulation procedure which reflects the stochastic nature of supply chains.     

基于VMI策略的供应链最小费用研究

供应商管理库存(VM I)是一种新型的供应链库存管理模式。基于供应商管理库存策略,通过对供应商如何安排生产,以及在各周期向分销商提供多少供货量,才能使整个供应链的费用最小这一目标进行了研究,并采用微粒群算法给出算例求解。     

The future trend on system-wide modelling in supply chain studies

Although supply chain (SC) has gained increasing attention in the last decade and numerous SC problems have been identified and solved, there is a lack of systematic approach to solve SC problems at a system level. SC can be viewed as a network of organisations including, but not restricted to, the suppliers (source of raw materials), manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and end customers. Each entity is able to process different tasks individually in order to satisfy the global goal of the network, which is usually the total cost or lead time of a set of products. If only inter-entity problems are solved, like inventory level, production planning, etc., the performance of the whole system is not guaranteed to be acceptable. The main objective of this paper is to review contemporary SC problems and the methodologies in solving them, and to suggest future research direction for solving supply chains problems. From the analysis of the review, it can be concluded that there is limited research to solve SC problems from a system point of view. In this connection, future direction in solving system-wide SC, and the potential difficulties, are discussed. This allows readers to gain insights in the future research direction in the area of supply chain management.     

基于SOA的中小型企业供应链管理系统的研究

在实施供应链管理系统过程中,部分企业简单地从物流管理的角度去看待SCM。对供应链管理认识不够导致系统自身存在业务能力差、生产效率低、集成效果不理想等问题,许多供应链管理系统实际上只是扮演一个数据存储的角色。针对这些问题提出了基于SOA的供应链管理系统设计方案,从基于SOA思想的设计原则出发,论述了基于WEB服务的实现方法与关键技术,对该系统面向服务架构进行总体规划。利用Web service和XML技术,采用三层结构设计模式,成功开发了一个中小型企业集成供应链系统,实现了供应链伙伴的信息和数据业务的共享和发布,加强了供应链上各企业伙伴的沟通,为解决上述问题提供一个可行的方案,较好地适应制造业复杂多变的环境和多样化的企业需求。     

Game theory methodology for optimizing retailers’ pricing and shelf-space allocation decisions on competing substitutable products

This paper examines the influence of competition among supply chain partners on product demand. A power law demand function that depends on product pricing and shelf-space allocation (SSA) is used. The exponents in the power law are given by the elasticities of demand. In order to achieve the optimal pricing and SSA strategies in the presence of competition, game-theory-based methodologies—Cournot and Stackelberg games—are employed. For each type of game, a Nash equilibrium is achieved by optimizing the profit as a function of demand and price. A case study is presented to demonstrate the potential of this methodology. The results of this study indicate (1) how to achieve optimal pricing and SSA strategies, (2) how manufacturers can influence demand for a product, (3) that both prices and profits decrease using the Stackelberg game as compared with the Cournot game, and (4) that coordination beyond simple knowledge of price would be beneficial for improving overall profits.     

基于Internet的绿色供应链

主要针对全球市场竞争环境的变化 ,提出了企业实施绿色供应链的战略。结合供应链和绿色制造的概念对绿色供应链做出定义。为分析绿色供应链的协调运作 ,给出了基于 Internet的绿色供应链管理系统的框架 ,并简要提出了实现绿色供应链的关键技术     

预付款融资下供应链投资RFID技术的均衡策略

本文以单资金约束的制造商和单零售商组成的二级供应链为研究对象,基于零售商提供预付款融资下,供应链是否投资无线射频识别(RFID)技术,分别构建了供应链投资和不投资RFID的收益模型,求解出相应的最优解并探讨了供应链投资RFID的策略。研究发现:制造商自有资金水平和RFID标签成本均能影响供应链RFID投资决策。随着制造商自有资金水平的上升,供应链投资RFID的意愿增强。当标签成本较低时,供应链倾向于投资RFID技术;当标签成本适中时,供应链是否投资RFID技术取决于制造商的自有资金水平;当标签成本较高时,供应链倾向于不投资RFID技术。     

大型工程物资供应组织中的合作伙伴选择

合作伙伴选择是当前动态联盟和供应链管理研究的一个热点问题,本文以某大型工程建设的物资供应为背景,深入研究了工程建设中动态物资需求情况下动态选择合作伙伴的问题,用非线性整数动态规划模型建立合作伙伴选择模型,同果,详细讨论了该类模型的求解方法,最后,以某大型工程为例,给出模型在计算实例。     

A solution procedure for integrated supply chain planning problem in open business environment using genetic algorithm

Enterprise applications are increasingly becoming capable of sharing information and coordinating decisions autonomously without any human intervention. This open business environment gives rise to several new supply chain planning problems that have to be solved by individual entities of a supply chain. This paper first mathematically formulates the supply chain planning problems emerging in the open business environment and second proposes a heuristic solution procedure based on the framework of genetic algorithm applicable to large-scale problems. The procedure has two stages as the original problem is decomposed into two sub-problems in an effort to reduce the overall problem complexity. The performance of the proposed algorithm is empirically proven to be effective in both solution quality and search time in various problem sizes.     

制造企业供应链战略合作伙伴评价指标体系与评价方法研究

针对当前供应链战略合作伙伴评价选择中存在的问题,提出了基于战略价值、商业价值、合作意愿和企业能力4个主要标准的供应链战略合作伙伴评价的指标体系,并论述了建立该指标体系的意义;用层次分析法确定指标权重,在此基础上,建立了供应链战略合作伙伴模糊综合评价模型;并通过实例进行了验证和讨论;最后对供应链战略合作伙伴评价选择的过程作了论述.