System for enhancing supply chain agility through exception handling

With the emergence of a new business era characterized by continuous and unpredictable changes and tough global competition, an agile supply chain has been recognized as a competitive strategy for companies to survive and prosper. Co-OPERATE, an on-going IST project, is aimed at developing concepts and tools for coordination of production planning and control activities in the complex and distributed supply network, and is targeted in the automotive supply and the semiconductor industries. Since the work reported here is based on the project, a framework for manufacturing coordination in the distributed supply network is proposed for the project. As an important part of the project, exception handling is further described. First, through boundary investigation, the scope of this business solution is clarified. Second, a methodology is developed to help understand the mechanism behind the exception handling process. Third, guiding design principles are described to direct the detailed business process design. Finally, rush-order handling is chosen as part of the concept prototype for implementation and evaluation. Extensive feedback from industrial business partners has been collected and taken into account for further implementation.     

Dynamic mutual adjustment search for supply chain operations planning co-ordination

Operational planning is an activity carried out by all manufacturing and logistical companies. Its co-ordination with supply chain partners aims at synchronising resources utilisation in order to minimise inefficiencies, such as unnecessary inventory holding, or in order to improve revenue through better resource utilisation. It is a rather complex process as partners have different objectives and information asymmetry is part of any effort to find good co-ordination solutions. Furthermore, because supply chains evolve in a dynamic and uncertain environment, once a co-ordination of operations plans is achieved, input data, such as forecasts or resources’ status, can change and affect on hand plans. These dynamic changes not only require updating the plan that is directly affected by the changes, but it also requires the adjustment of all plans that are part of the same co-ordination solution (Stadtler, H. 2009. A framework for collaborative planning and state-of-the-art. OR Spectrum, 31 (1), 5–30). Therefore, the development of a practical co-ordination approach should be capable of dealing with these dynamic changes. This paper proposes a dynamic mutual adjustment search heuristic, which can be used to co-ordinate the operations plans of two independent supply chain partners, linked by material and non-strategic information flows. Computational analysis shows that the proposed approach produces a win-win strategy in the context of two supply chain partners, and improves the results of upstream planning in each planning cycle, and also improves the fairness of revenue sharing when compared to optimal centralised planning.     

Intelligent and integrated RFID (Ⅱ-RFID) system for improving traceability in manufacturing

In the wake of globalization,many modern manufacturing companies in Norway have come under intense pressure caused by increased competition,stricter government regulation,and customer demand for higher value at low cost in a short time.Manufacturing companies need traceability,which means a real-time view into thenproduction processes and operations.Radio frequency identification(RFID) technology enables manufacturing companies to gain instant traceability and visibility because it handles manufactured goods,materials and processes transparently.RFID has become an important driver in manufacturing and supply chain activities.However,there is still a challenge in effectively deploying RFID in manufacturing.This paper describes the importance for Norwegian manufacturing companies to implement RFID technology,and shows how the intelligent and integrated RFID(n-RFID) system,which has been developed in the Knowledge Discovery Laboratory of Norwegian University of Science and Technology,provides instant traceability and visibility into manufacturing processes.It supports the Norwegian manufacturing industries survive and thrive in global competition.The future research work will focus on the field of RFID data mining to support decision-making process in manufacturing.     

Issues on the reduction of demand variance in the supply chain

To streamline an agile manufacturing system of a global firm facing a high demand of market service, supply chain management (SCM) plays an important role. In SCM, a phenomenon called ‘the bullwhip effect’ has attracted considerable attention. This study examines the bullwhip effect caused by order variance from retailers. It shows that based on portfolio theory, supplier's demand variance can be reduced by adjusting the order quantities of retailers through co-ordination. The results indicate that our approach can be a useful means for alleviating the bullwhip effect.     

Delphi study on supply chain flexibility

The flexibility literature is dominated by research on manufacturing flexibility. More recently, supply chain flexibility has been recognized as an important flexibility construct for meeting customer demand. An Internet-based Delphi study involving a group of expert practitioners is used to enumerate the characteristics, and the importance of those characteristics, in making a supply chain flexible. Expert opinion is one method for gathering information that can be used to develop a model of supply chain flexibility and provide a framework for future research.     

Comprehensive framework for the development of a supply chain strategy

Current competition among companies is fought through their supply chains. As the performance of the supply chain depends not only on manufacturing and marketing attributes, it becomes necessary to establish a framework upon which to develop a supply chain strategy. The paper presents the rationale and principles of a customer–product–process–resource (CPPR) framework for the simultaneous analysis of the business, supplier, manufacturing, planning, marketing and customer dimensions of a supply chain strategy. The originality of the CPPR framework is that it establishes a set of supply chain structural elements, that when put together determine the degree of alignment of a supply chain strategy. As the main objective of a supply chain strategy is to achieve customer satisfaction as an output of the supply chain operations, the CPPR framework becomes a realignment tool when used in combination with a realignment methodology, which is also presented in the paper.     

A co-ordination theory approach to restructuring the supply chain: an empirical study from the focal company perspective

In the wake of the global financial crisis, a growing number of firms have begun to reassess their strategic goals and subsequently restructure their global supply chains. Since supply chain restructuring often leads to dramatic changes in the business paradigm, there is a need to examine whether or not it affects the way that firms co-ordinate their business activities and integrate product innovations across the supply chain. Nevertheless, little has been known about the antecedents of supply chain restructuring and the impact of supply chain restructuring on manufacturing practices. To fill the void in this line of research, we propose co-ordination theory that can explain causal links between supply chain restructuring and key strategic variables essential for the supply chain success from focal company perspectives. These strategic variables may include the extent of co-ordination with suppliers, the degree of information sharing with suppliers, and the level of organisational integration. Our empirical analysis, based on the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey IV, confirms the validity of co-ordination theory in that business initiatives intended for greater co-ordination and information sharing with suppliers turned out to be a major driving force behind supply chain restructuring, which facilitates organisational integration.     

Supply chain configuration with co-ordinated product,process and logistics decisions: an approach based on Petri nets

Supply chain configuration lends itself to be an effective means to deal with product differentiation and customisation throughout a supply chain network. It essentially entails the instantiation of a generic supply chain network to specific supply chains in accordance with diverse customer requirements. The lynchpin of supply chain configuration lies in the co-ordination of product, process and logistics decisions in relation to a variety of customer orders. This paper aims to provide modelling support to supply chain configuration. The ultimate goal is to assist companies to form appropriate supply chains with the most added-value to customer order fulfillment. A formalism based on coloured Petri nets is developed for configuring supply chains. System models are built upon the coloured Petri nets and used to incorporate product and process concerns into the supply chain configuration process. An industrial case study is reported to illustrate the potential of the coloured Petri net modelling formalism and the built system models for supply chain configuration.     

Efficiency analysis of supply chain processes

We present an integrated benchmarking approach. To analyse the performance of inter-organizational (supply chain) processes at company level we combine dependency analysis and data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA has been proven to be a powerful tool for benchmarking processes and for identifying the most efficient ones. Before using DEA analysis the inputs and outputs as well as the relevant dependencies have to be identified. To support the determination of input and output variables we propose to use dependency analysis. We illustrate the application of this integrated approach by analysing the results of an empirical benchmarking study of 65 European and North American companies. The study shows that make-to-stock is still the predominating manufacturing strategy of the analysed industries. Therefore, we utilize different DEA models with weight restrictions only for companies with a make-to-stock strategy. The results support our basic hypotheses that efficient supply chains lead to high financial performance. Furthermore they indicate improvement potential for the benchmarked supply chain processes.     

A technology selection framework for integrating manufacturing within a supply chain

This paper describes a structured analytical approach for selecting a manufacturing technology. A framework consisting of six integrated steps is proposed by considering the growing importance of supply chains in manufacturing organisations. The framework makes use of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach combined with strategic assessment model (SAM) to evaluate and select the technologies appropriate for providing overall competitive advantage. The framework is intended to assist industrial managers in promoting manufacturing and supply chain collaboration and co-ordination by including intra-organisational perspective in their organisational technology selection decision making process.     

How supply quality management improves an organization's quality performance: a study of Chinese manufacturing firms

Because of unfavourable economic conditions, organizations worldwide have to constantly reconstruct their business strategies in order to survive. Recent studies have stressed the importance of supply quality management (SQM) for the general competitiveness of manufacturers. However, very little empirical research has been carried out that specifically examines how SQM practices lead to improvements in quality across an organization. To scrutinise the impact of SQM practices, a survey was conducted of 138 leading manufacturing companies in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), a manufacturing hub in southern China dubbed ‘the factory floor of the world’. By using path analytic techniques, a model was constructed to portray the relationships among SQM practices and organizational quality performance. This model could act as a tool of reference for companies seeking to improve their SQM systems, and help them in their efforts to raise quality across the company. This paper demonstrates that quality-conscious management practices speed up the implementation of SQM practices. This paper finally reveals the influential effect of SQM practices on both supply quality and organizational quality performance.     

A supply chain sustainability innovation framework and evaluation methodology

Sustainability is hinged on innovation. The importance of sustainable innovation management in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) cannot be underestimated. Studies on SSCM have emphasised the need for sustainable innovation in achieving sustainability but none provide deep insights into sustainable innovation management in SSCM implementation. This lack of research depth stimulates this study to identify and investigate criteria for sustainable supply chain management innovation advancement. This paper proposes a sustainable innovation criteria framework for investigating sustainable supply chains in manufacturing companies. To exemplify the applicability and efficiency of the proposed framework, a sample of five Indian manufacturing companies are used to evaluate and prioritise the sustainable innovation management criteria, using the ‘best–worst’ multi-criteria decision-making (BW-MCDM) model. The criteria weights for all companies from BWM are aggregated, averaged and used for ranking. The respondent managers viewed ‘financial availability for innovation’ as the most important sustainable innovation sub-criteria. The results of the study will inform industrial managers, practitioners and decision-makers on which criteria to focus on during the implementation stage, to increase sustainability in manufacturing supply chains, and further advance corporate and supply chain sustainable development. The framework may also serve as a theoretical construct for a future empirical study on sustainable supply chain innovation in the manufacturing sector. This paper sets the stage for further research in sustainable innovation practices in the manufacturing sector and its supply chains.     

Performance measures and metrics in logistics and supply chain management: a review of recent literature (1995–2004) for research and applications

Performance measures and metrics are essential for effectively managing logistics operations, particularly in a competitive global economy. The global economy is featured with global operations, outsourcing and supply chain and e-commerce. The real challenge for managers of this new enterprise environment is to develop suitable performance measures and metrics to make right decisions that would contribute to an improved organizational competitiveness. Now the question is whether traditional performance measures can be used and out of them which ones should be given priority for measuring the performance in a new enterprise environment. Some of the traditional measures and metrics may not be suitable for the new environment wherein many activities are not easily identifiable. Measuring intangibles and nonfinancial performance measures pose the greater challenge in the so-called knowledge economy. Nevertheless, measuring them is so critical for the successful operations of companies in this environment. Considering the importance of nonfinancial measures and intangibles, an attempt has been made in this paper to determine the key performance measures and metrics in supply chain and logistics operations. This is based on a literature survey and some of the reported case experiences. Suggestions for future research directions are also indicated.     

A framework for collaborative planning and state-of-the-art

Inter-organizational supply chain management incurs the challenge to align the activities of all members which contribute to the value creation of a product or service offered to customers. In general, a supply chain faces the “problem” of information asymmetry, members having their own objectives and constraints which may be in conflict with those of the other members. Still, activities have to be aligned in such a way that the supply chain as a whole stays or becomes competitive while each member wins by cooperating. A number of collaborative planning schemes have been put forward in the last two decades with different assumptions and different areas of application. This paper intends to provide a framework and an overview on the state-of-the-art of collaborative planning. The criteria of the framework will allow us to position existing concepts and to identify areas where more research is needed. The focus of the literature reviewed here will be on model-based decision support at the operational planning level.     

Supply chain relationship quality,the competitive environment and performance

In today's competitive environment, it is supply chains (SC) rather than companies that compete. Empirical research in the area of SC relationships have primarily sought to explain the nature of relationship processes rather than their effect on performance. However, the impact of SC relationship quality on SC performance has received less attention in the literature. Furthermore, the nature of the competitive environment can vary greatly across different supply chains. As such it is appropriate to consider whether or not the effect of SC relationship quality on SC performance is monotonic across different competitive environments. Accordingly, this paper investigates if SC relationship quality has an impact on SC performance quality and whether or not the competitive environment moderates this relationship.     

Integrated innovative product design and supply chain tactical planning within a blockchain platform

In globalised manufacturing and production environments, companies increasingly tend to exploit public contribution advantages within designing, manufacturing and marketing processes. To be benefited from outbound capabilities, this paper presents a tactical supply chain planning model to integrate the designing process in the form of open innovation within the supply chain main processes. In this regard, a fuzzy mathematical model is proposed to optimise the tactical decisions according to supply chain objectives and open innovation considerations. On the other hand, intellectual property issues and protecting the rights of innovators are significant concerns that sometimes avoid companies to be engaged in open innovation initiatives. Therefore, this paper proposes a registering mechanism in which the ideas and creative works are collected, refined and finally approved within a blockchain platform. Furthermore, in order to deal with epistemic environmental uncertainty, the fuzzy set theory is utilised. To investigate the applicability of the developed model, a case study in home appliances domain is employed. The results show that the company can achieve favourable designs by spending approximately 1% of the supply chain total cost. Additionally, benefiting the registering mechanism can decrease the cost of using non-original designs more than 41%.     

Strategic supply chain management issues in the automotive industry: an Australian perspective

The automotive manufacturing industry is an extremely competitive one. Many companies are focusing on their supply chains for sources of competitive advantage. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study that examined contemporary issues related to supply chains in the Australian automotive manufacturing industry. Data from interviews with managers from vehicle manufacturers, component suppliers, peak industry bodies and government agencies enabled the articulation of 10 key issues. These issues were validated as being relevant to the industry by another group of managers from the industry. Review of these 10 issues showed that the relationships between the parties in supply chains are complex, and despite the success of the industry, there are a number of structural weaknesses. These issues, when taken individually, pose significant risks to the industry. When considered collectively, these risks are magnified several fold. This paper also presents research questions in the form of formal propositions associated with the 10 issues that need to be rigorously tested in order to assess the long-term viability and success of the industry. The issues that are raised can also be relevant to other industries with similar supply chain dynamics.     

Integration of manufacturing and distribution networks in a global car company – network models and numerical simulation

Global supply chain practices and their effects have received considerable attention over the last two decades. In the recent past, the need for integration across supply chains has been identified as a key for effective and efficient operations of supply chains. This is observed with the increasing trend of collaborative partnerships among supply chain partners. This paper presents an integrated approach for manufacturing and distribution networks within the supply chain system of a global car company. The paper shows that the integration of manufacturing and distribution networks creates the environment for effective planning of many components and execution/follow-up of those plans. These components include materials, resources, operations/activities, suppliers and customers. The main features of the integration include component integration at individual networks via use of a central warehouse. This integration reduces various interfacing steps between partners and enables representations of relationships (component precedence, parent-component and component-component). The proposed integrated model is numerically tested using past data from one of Japan's auto-makers, based in the emerging economy of Thailand. The paper concludes that the integrated supply network eliminates the need for interfacing of individual networks and enables simultaneous planning of many components as well as forward planning of supply components in global supply chain operations. It also shows that the integrated approach is capable of providing visibility, flexibility, and maintainability for further improvement in the supply network environment.     

Order confirmation mechanism for collaborative production networks

To avert risk, today's companies perform business with little capital investment. They invest only on the core activities which gain higher profit and outsource non-critical production activities to their partner companies (subcontractors or sourcing companies). Hence, a customer order is normally completed by a collaborative production network formed by the partner companies. However, co-ordinating those loosely and distributed companies to meet the uncertain demands from the final customers is not simple. This research suggests an order confirmation mechanism that allows synchronizing the available capacities over the supply network. The mechanism is developed based on a factory agent system and a design of three protocols: (1) protocol for normal condition, (2) protocol for abnormal condition, and (3) protocol for cancellation. Based on the protocols, messages and procedures are designed. The design is also deployed on a distributed computing environment to illustrate the feasibility and applicability.     

Consignment stock of inventories in the presence of obsolescence

The Consignment Stock (CS) inventory policy is becoming an important strategy that companies adopt to face new manufacturing and supply chain management challenges. A CS policy implies great collaboration between the buyer and supplier, pushing them towards a complete exchange of information and a consistent sharing of management risks. In such a context, the effects of the obsolescence of products have to be carefully evaluated since they fall onto both actors, causing an increase in total supply chain costs. This paper proposes an analytical model able to take into account the effects of obsolescence in a supply chain managed with a CS policy. The deterministic single-vendor, single-buyer CS model is used as a base to develop the proposed model. A comparison with a non-obsolescence optimal solution available in the literature is presented. Moreover, the stochastic behaviour of the product lifetime estimation is also taken into consideration. Results demonstrate that the effects of obsolescence can consistently influence the global optimum condition.