An integrated supply chain configuration framework for modular product architecture

Abstract

Owing to the complex nature of cross-disciplinary interaction, members of the engineering and operations supply chain do not focus on the importance of concurrent product design and supply chain decisions. Misalignment of the product architecture and the supply chain would not only lead to significant inefficiencies, but also costly decision reversals. In this paper, a weighted multi-objective optimisation model of supply chain design is presented which brings together both aspects of the supply chain. The model makes use of production, inventory and logistics costs to achieve a minimal cost goal. To incorporate the subjective nature of selecting suppliers and the cost of modularity index (for making product architecture choices, i.e., standard or NTF components), at every stage of the supply chain, fuzzy logic was employed. The genetic algorithm module in MATLAB was used to solve the optimisation model. A bulldozer supply chain case study is presented to validate the model.