Toward Privacy-Aware Traceability for Automotive Supply Chains

Relationship quality plays a key role in maintaining the connection among parties in a supply chain. Relationship quality promotes loyalty of the supply chain’s factors. This study applies structural equation modeling (SEM) to point out factors affecting the relationship quality and loyalty between farmers and food companies in the rice supply chain. The research data were collected by stratified sampling with a sample size of 232 farmers associating with food companies in the rice supply chain in the Mekong Delta. The four impacting factors that the study has found out include trust, perceived benefit, support policy, and payment terms. Most importantly, the study has demonstrated that relationship quality has a positive correlation with loyalty among parties in the regional rice supply chain.

Work Floor Experiences of Supply Chain Partnering in the Dutch Housing Sector

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to report on research that was completed to explore the concept of the bullwhip effect in supply chains and to illustrate empirically the presence of the bullwhip effect in automotive supply chains in South Africa. Problem Investigated: This article investigates the presence of the bullwhip effect - which was identified through an empirical study - and its causes and implications for supply chain management in the South African automotive component industry. Methodology: A literature study was conducted on the causes and implications of the bullwhip effect phenomenon. This was followed by an empirical study in the form of a survey among South African automotive component manufacturers. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to determine the significant supply chain problems relating to the bullwhip effect in automotive supply chains. Findings and Implications: The results indicate that automotive component manufacturers are dependent on demand-forecasting information from their customers. They experience long lead times, fluctuating orders, cancellation of orders, excess and slow moving inventory and a lack of integration with suppliers and customers. There are also signs of relationship problems and a possible silo mentality. The mentioned results indicate the presence of the bullwhip effect in South African automotive supply chains. Since the bullwhip effect can have a major impact on organisations' costs, knowing where to invest effort and resources should be a high priority for supply chain managers. Value of the Research: Since the field of supply chain management is extremely dynamic, this article contributes to the body of knowledge and provides new insight into the bullwhip effect phenomenon. The results included in this article could assist parties in automotive supply chains to focus their attention on problems that might be within their control and if solved could lead to improved competitiveness. Furthermore, there is little empirical research on this topic in the South African automotive component industry. Conclusion: It is possible that the bullwhip effect is responsible for inefficiencies in automotive supply chains. Knowledge of the indicators of the bullwhip effect can enable supply chain managers to identify it at an early stage and thus be proactive in preventing its costly influence on the efficiency of the supply chain. The bullwhip effect can be experienced by any industry. This is possibly the case in the automotive component industry in South Africa.

Developing a blockchain framework for the automotive supply chain: A systematic review

Supply chain risks come in a variety of forms: disruptions to material flows, product quality problems, information systems breakdowns, and economic instability (Chopra & Sodhi, 2004; Zsidisin et al., 2000). The recent literature in supply chain management recognizes the importance of managing such risks in the age of global supply chains. Various researchers have discussed firms’ increasing exposure to risks and the resulting, potentially severe negative impact on the firms’ financial performances (e.g., Hendricks & Singhal, 2005). One such risk to the supply chain, disruption of supply flows, can occur suddenly due to a number of unpredictable events. Even more unpredictable, however, is the ripple effect caused by the disruption. For example, the September 11th terrorist attacks of 2001 in New York and Washington, D.C., originally disrupted many supply chains on the United States (U.S.) East Coast, one of which was the Ford Motor Company’s parts supply chain. The disruption eventually forced not one but five of Ford’s assembly plants to cease production within a week of the incident (Zakaria, 2001). While Ford was experiencing parts shortages, Quanta Computer, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer for Dell and others, faced a pile-up of finished products when the U.S. airspace closed due to the attacks (Einhorn, 2001). One logistics service company in Europe estimated that the attacks cost the company £5 million (Parker, 2002). In this example, the ripple effects were extensive, affecting businesses in North America, Asia, and Europe. This high degree of impact clearly illustrates the importance of managing ripple effects as a part of supply chain risk management. In the first of two parts, this research shows that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, a relatively new development in supply chain management, holds great promise for managing supply disruptions and for containing their harmful ripple effects. RFID ⎯ a wireless technology that uses transmitted radio signals to tag an item in order to track and trace its movement without human intervention ⎯ has superior capabilities over bar codes and promises many supply chain benefits, such as reductions in shrinkage, efficient handling of materials, increased product availability, and improved asset management (Angeles, 2005; Li & Visich, 2006; Taghaboni-Dutta & Velthouse, 2006). RFID has many applications in retail, healthcare, logistics, records management, and more, but so far its use in risk management has not been explored in the literature. To fill that gap, this research first addresses the following question: Is RFID applicable in supply chain risk management; in particular, how is it useful for managing supply disruptions?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a radio frequency identification (RFID)‐based intra‐supply chain (intra‐SC) system to facilitate coordination and integration of supply chain functions and activities, thus eventually enhancing the overall performance of a supply chain.Design/methodology/approachThe architecture of the proposed RFID‐based intra‐SC system is designed specifically for a chain made up of a fiber producer, fiber dyeing producer, yarn spinning producer, knitting and finishing producer, distributor, and a textile retailer.FindingsCompared with the traditional approach, operational time, costs, lead time, and accuracy of inventory holding and of cycle time operations are noticeably improved.Practical implicationsThe proposed RFID‐based intra‐SC system is implemented for trial at a distribution warehouse in Zhuhai, China. It is of benefit to the manufacturer who is able to seek obsolete stock effectively and capture real‐time data automatically.Originality/valueThe RFID‐based intra‐SC system is designed to overcome issues of information invisibility, which is considered a huge cost lost for obsolete stocks and ineffective intra‐SC operations in the textile industry. In this industry, the products are highly dependent on seasonal factors. Short product life cycle and high forecast errors are also critical difficulties encountered by supply chain parties. Thus, the RFID technology is suggested to be adopted in similar supply chains. In this paper, a textile manufacturing site is selected to test the proposed RFID system. Some advantages, critical issues for implementation of the RFID system, and lessons learned from the case study are shared with other interested parties.

PurposeA supply chain (SC) involves many stakeholders, directly or indirectly, for satisfying consumers’ requirements. SC management is restricted by a lack of information sharing among stakeholders as parties of SC do not have direct communication and/or are not willing to share private and competitively sensitive information. In the SC, the bullwhip effect (BWE) is an undesirable phenomenon that aggravates the SC performance and increases the overall cost of SC. The main culprit of BWE is the lack of SC coordination among the parties, which results from wrong and lack of information sharing. Blockchain technology (BT) has the main characteristic of distributed shared ledger that makes all parties in the SC network able to access data. This paper aims to develop a BT model and implement it into the SC.Design/methodology/approachA blockchain is developed consisting four SC stakeholders and an integrated development environment has been used for coding in Python.FindingsThe analysis of the impact of the adoption of BT in SC shows the reduction in BWE.Originality/valueIn SC, BT can be considered as an effective tool to share the demand data among all SC partners. Sharing of such data will improve SC planning and reduce the BWE.

Purpose This study aims to consider the impact of conformity pressure (peer pressure) on demand-enhancing investments among dual-channel supply chain parties. Nowadays, IT development helps manufacturers open direct channels easily, and the complexity of distribution through multiple channels leads to the difficulty of supply chain coordination. In this situation, many researchers and practitioners pay attention to psychological factors to coordinate the supply chain because the behavior of supply chain parties is different under psychological factors. Therefore, the authors shed light on conformity pressure among supply chain parties, which is one of the psychological costs for managers. Design/methodology/approach Based on the non-cooperative game theoretical approach, this study analyzes the effect of conformity (peer pressure) on decision-making and surplus analytically. Findings From this study’s analysis, we demonstrate that conformity pressure improves total profits in a dual-channel supply chain under specific environments (positive effect). On the other hand, conformity pressure always harms consumer surplus (negative effect). This study finds that, depending on the tradeoff of the two effects, the total surplus improves by conformity pressure. Originality/value The result proposes the following managerial insights. First, conformity pressure harms consumer surplus, and therefore, if firms emphasize customer value, they should not lean conformity pressure on supply chain partners as a managerial insight. Second, from the perspective of supply chain coordination, conformity pressure has a bright and dark side for the total profits of the supply chain.

The South African automotive industry, which is an important sector in the South African economy, needs to function efficiently if it is to compete internationally. However, South African automotive components manufacturers (ACMs) are not internationally competitive and automotive assemblers, also known as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), often import cheaper components from abroad. All parties in the South African automotive supply chains need each other to ensure optimal efficiency and competitiveness. Furthermore, it is vital that good relationships exist between customers and suppliers in the automotive supply chains in South Africa. ACMs are central to automotive supply chains. A survey was conducted among ACMs to determine the nature of relationships that exist between buyers and suppliers in South Africa’s automotive supply chains. The results showed that collaborative relationships do indeed exist between members of the supply chain but that communication, understanding of the parties’ situations and cooperation can improve this relationship and so create total alliance between OEMs and ACMs.

This report summarizes the design and pilot demonstration of a framework called Grid Guard that was created to provide increased data and device trustworthiness to electric grid devices by leveraging distributed ledger technology (DLT), specifically blockchain. Grid Guard contains a combination of core cryptographic methods such as the secure hash algorithm (SHA), and asymmetric cryptography, private permissioned blockchain, baselining configuration data, consensus algorithm (Raft) and the Hyperledger Fabric (HLF) framework. The system implements a low energy, fast, and robust enhancement to system trustworthiness within and across electric grid systems such as substations, control centers and metering infrastructures.Blockchain is a distributed database structured that provides a practically unalterable (immutable) timeline of stored transactions. By relying on hashing and the Raft consensus algorithm, if an entity tries to illegitimately alter a record at one instance of the database the other ledger nodes are not altered. They work to cross-reference each other and easily locate any incorrectly added data and remove it. The bulk raw data is stored in an off-chain storage (outside of the blockchain ledger) and a hash of this baseline data is stored in the Blockchain ledger via hashing windows of time-series and configuration data, after aggregation and filtering. The bulk off-chain data repository is then considered to be trust-anchored using the hashes stored in the blockchain. To secure the electric grid testbed devices and data, device configuration baselines were compared to those baselines that had been previously stored in the ledger. Statistical baselines for device configurations, network communication patterns, and high-speed sensor data are calculated and then stored off-chain and hashes stored in the ledger. Measurements such as three-phase voltage and current, frequency, breaker status, protection scheme settings, network configuration settings (and other device configuration artifacts) and network traffic features (packet interarrival times) are compared every minute or other selected time windows.During phase 1 of the Grid Guard DLT project different DLT technologies were studies, and an assessment was performed on DLT technology vulnerabilities, uses, and key characteristics. DLT consensus protocols were studies (e.g., RAFT, named after Reliable, Replicated, Redundant, And Fault-Tolerant). Also, cryptography, public, private and permissioned or permissionless systems were assessed. Grid Guard implements a permissioned private DLT. Consensus algorithm selection and choice of DLT implementation depended heavily on the use-case. For this use-case, parameters were selected to measure performance and existing tools for assessment. Benchmarking was performed theoretically and practically. During phase 2 hashed transactions/blocks were inserted into the ledger every second.During phase 2 of the Grid Guard DLT project, a prototype framework was developed and demonstrated for attestation of critical substation devices and data using precision timing systems that use PTP and IRIG-B protocols) on a testbed of operational devices that emulated a distribution substation, control center, and power metering infrastructure using real Operational Technology (OT). The testbed includes OT devices such as protective relays, human machine interfaces (HMI), and power meters. To determine when to collect and compare system and network baselines, an initial examination of an anomaly detection capability to identify malicious manipulation of data streams was conducted. The resulting anomaly detection was demonstrated in a set of experiments and leveraged to trigger device artifact attestation checks. Attestation checks occur against device configuration baselines when compared with the immutable blockchain-stored baselines, which provided a cryptographically supported means by which to store baselines.The electrical substation-grid testbed was created to test the Grid Guard framework. The testbed emulates the operations of a portion of a power grid and SCADA systems as closely as possible. The testbed integrates real protocols, mainly IEC 61850 standard protocols, such as the Sampled Value (SV) and the GOOSE protocols. The testbed also supports DNP3 and other layer 2 and layer 3 protocols such as Telnet, SSH, SFTP/FTP and other proprietary protocols needed to connect to industrial control system equipment. The testbed emulates real power conditions using the OpalRT hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) device which can create fault situations that cannot be easily tested on real systems. The electrical substation-grid testbed was created using real measurement, communication, and protection devices that electrical utilities commonly use. The goal is to have the same conditions that could be observed in an operational power grid or electrical substation. The objective was to study the impact of faults and cyber-events at an

The effect of common ownership among supply chain parties on decision-making and surplus with manufacturer encroachment

The relationship between supply environment, supply chain integration and operational performance: The role of business process in curbing opportunistic behaviour.

The study focuses on the utilization of Blockchain and Cloud based technologies in the automotive supply chain in India. It is based on a questionnaire-based survey conducted through a Google Form based questionnaire over 75 company executives of automobile sector having any idea on Blockchain. Among the participants, 73% was Male& 27% was Female. 32% Executives with Job experience 2-5 years, 27% with 5-10 years and 41% with More than 10 years. In terms of working profile, 41% Production Manager, 17% Tech Manager and 32% Supply Manager were there.The study uses a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire to assess the three broad parameters: Blockchain Technology Adoption (BTA), Supply Chain Integration (SC1) with Internal Integration, Customer Integration and Supplier Integration as sub-items and Sustainable Supply Chain Performance (SSCP). It has found that the company executives perceive that the blockchain is well integratedin the supply chain from both supplier and customer's perspective and also perceive that the blockchain is well integrated in the supply chain from both supplier and customer's perspective. organizationsalso has the capability of achieving sustainability in embracing Blockchain Technology. Not only in the mainstream production process, but also in the supply chain encompassing the suppliers and transporters, the usage of blockchain technology is widespread acknowledged. The Customer services also embrace Cloud-based Blockchain services to a greater extent. It has been observed that the adoption of blockchain and cloud technologies improve supply chain sustainability and coordination among different units in supply chain. However, the blockchain-based customer services such as vehicle monitoring, theft prevention, insurance scrutiny need to be focused more as the automotive sector in India is inclined to the Blockchain Technology towards the backward linkages up the supply chain rather than the forward linkages downward. The cloud integration in the blockchain network do enhances the performance and utilities in the automobile sector. Still, it needs to be more sophisticated and gain industry-wide acceptance.

The Industry 4.0 is offering novel opportunities for large enterprises or even small and medium enterprises (SME) to digitize and also simplify their existing production workflows. With the uprise of the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), the Industry 4.0 also receives new possibilities to set up a more secure, redundant and decentralized data infrastructure. Existing database systems can be exchanged with Blockchain systems, thus making use of its inherent immutability. Popular open-source Blockchain frameworks such as Hyperledger Fabric offer large customizability, which makes them attractive for dynamic Industry 4.0 applications. Though, the configuration of the required networks is not a trivial task. Due to its high flexibility and numerous configuration parameters, an interested developer needs to have a deep understanding or even some experience with the Hyperledger Fabric framework. Since most SMEs do not have a dedicated IT department, this paper aims to provide a design guideline for interested developers to optimally set up a Hyperledger Fabric v2.0 business network, which is suited for the desired use-case. With the special demands of Industry 4.0 in mind, this paper also provides three example use-cases, which can benefit from the use of DLT to enhance data security. The results are generalizable and comparable to previous works but differ in some version-specific aspects of Fabric.

Blockchain Technology for Ophthalmology: Coming of Age?