An integrated e-supply chain model for agile and environmentally conscious manufacturing

Abstract

This paper presents a mathematically sound model for the design and optimization of supply chains in terms of such important performance indexes as product cost, cycle time, quality, energy and environmental impact in the context of global and Internet-based manufacturing. The two layer model is a hyper-network of material flows overlaid with an e-business information network. It extends from a traditional supply chain having suppliers, distributors, and users to include end-of-life product collectors and de-manufacturers. Furthermore, it extends the performance considerations from cost and productivity to include environmental performance. Such extensions allow one to develop Internet-based manufacturing systems that are agile and can produce desired products with the minimum environmental impact over their life cycles. Fuzzy logic-based optimization goals are used in the proposed multiobjective optimization model. A personal computer containing such mechatronic components as hard disk driver, keyboard, and mouse is used as an example to illustrate the application of the proposed integrated e-supply chain model.